Has there ever been a more ridiculous public intellectual than Francis Fukuyama? First, he famously pronounced the ‘end of history’ and that democracy was now happily spreading across the entire planet. Then he decided that, far from history having ended, civilisation was in mortal danger and he became a prominent neo-conservative. Now, the Independent gloats, he has recanted neo-conservatism too:

This is no ordinary thesis, but apostasy on a grand scale. Mr Fukuyama, after all, was the most prominent intellectual who signed the 1997 "Project for the New American Century", the founding manifesto of neo-conservatism drawn up by William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, the house journal of the neo-conservative movement...Thus chastened, Mr Fukuyama now wants to temper the idealism of the neo-conservative doctrine with an acceptance that some things are not so easy to change, and that the US must cut its cloth accordingly. He calls it ‘realistic Wilsonianism’.

Fukuyama thus joins the swelling band of fair-weather fainthearts who originally supported the defence of the west but have turned tail and run for their reputations now the going has turned tough. He has written yet another book apparently to demonstrate that the history of Fukuyama has not ended but is going backwards. A period of silence from this particular thinker would surely be preferable.

Posted by melanie at March 9, 2006