Fukyama V Huntington

Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington are two of the most controversial and influential modern political theorists of our times. Fukuyama's book, The End of History and the Last Man, and Huntington's book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, pose two very conflicting theories on international relations. In this paper I will summarize and compare/contrast the two theories. Both theories, written since the fall of communism and updated since the first gulf war, have been widely read, taught, praised and criticized

The End of History and the Last Man is a book in which Francis Fukuyama argues the controversial thesis that the end of history, a time when class distinctions no longer exist, believing them to be the cause of the evolution of everything that has existed in society up in till that point, is among us.

"What we may be witnessing in not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."

Fukuyama's thesis consists of two main elements. Firstly, Fukuyama points out that since the beginning of the nineteenth century democracy is the only intellectual expected system of government. Secondly, Fukuyama sees history as consisting of tension between two classes: the one in control and the one being controlled. Ultimately these two groups must manage to live in peace together or become one in the same in order for a society to function. To understand Fukuyama's theory one must look beyond the specific words. Fukuyama is not claiming that history has or will end and that occurrences of history will cease to exist. He is saying that democracy is such a perfect and Idealistic form of rule that no major change in political philosophy can happen in the future. Historical occurrences will still exist, but they will be within the realm of the current political philosophical thought. Fukuyama goes even further to prove his point by showing that the new philosophies on government created since the oncoming of democracy, (Communism, Socialism, etc.) have ultimately failed and democracy has prevailed in its place.

In the Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington argues that the primary political actors in the 21st century will be civilizations and that the primary conflicts will be conflicts between these civilizations rather then between nation states.

Huntington Writes:

"It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic.