Fukuyama, Francis

▪ 2003

      Biotechnology and bioethics remained leading topics of talk in both the mainstream and academic press during 2002. With the publication in April of Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, the voice of American political theorist Francis Fukuyama echoed throughout both arenas. Our Posthuman Future undressed cutting-edge science, revealing the hidden dangers of preselecting human traits, extending average life spans, and relying too much on mood-altering drugs. He concluded that genetic engineering requires greater federal regulation, such as a ban on human cloning. Accustomed to being read in both popular and scholarly circles, Fukuyama was no stranger to the levers of influence, and as a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, he was in a unique position to make his opinions matter.

      Fukuyama was born on Oct. 27, 1952, in Chicago. He studied classics at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. (B.A., 1974), and political science at Harvard University (Ph.D., 1981). In 1979 he began a long-term association with the research organization RAND Corporation, in Santa Monica, Calif., and Washington, D.C. In 1981–82 he helped shape foreign policy for the U.S. Department of State, specializing in Middle East affairs and serving as a delegate to an Egyptian-Israeli conference on Palestinian autonomy. In 1987 he coedited The Soviet Union and the Third World: The Last Three Decades, and two years later he rejoined the State Department to focus on European political and military issues. As a professor he held chairs at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., from 1996 to 2001 and at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C., from 2001.

      Fukuyama's first major work, The End of History and the Last Man (1992), earned international acclaim and made best-seller lists in the U.S., France, Japan, and Chile. His thesis—introduced as a magazine article in 1989, when communism in Eastern Europe was collapsing—posited that Western-style liberal democracy not only was the victor of the Cold War but marked the last ideological stage in the long march of history. Among the scholars who challenged him was Samuel P. Huntington in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996), which foretold fractious cultural battles that would splinter the dominance of liberal democracy as the unrivaled political ideal. The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, indicated to some that Islamic fundamentalism was indeed threatening the hegemony of the West. Fukuyama, however, dismissed the attacks as part of “a series of rearguard actions” against what he believed was the prevailing political philosophy of the new globalism.

      Fukuyama traced parallel tracks in his follow-up books: Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (1995) was popular in the business market, and The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order (1999) took a conservative look at American society in the second half of the 20th century. Critics downgraded his books for seeking too-tidy explanations of broad world movements rife with complexities, while supporters greeted each new volume with the fanfare befitting a formidable public intellectual.

Tom Michael

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▪ American writer and political theorist

born Oct. 27, 1952, Chicago, Ill., U.S.

      American writer and political theorist, perhaps best known for his belief that the triumph of liberal democracy at the end of the Cold War marked the last ideological stage in the progression of human history.

      Fukuyama studied classics at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. (B.A., 1974), and political science at Harvard University (Ph.D., 1981). In 1979 he began a long-term association with the research organization RAND Corporation, in Santa Monica, Calif., and Washington, D.C. He later helped shape foreign policy for the U.S. Department of State (1981–82), specializing in Middle Eastern affairs and serving as a delegate to an Egyptian-Israeli conference on Palestinian autonomy. In 1987 he coedited The Soviet Union and the Third World: The Last Three Decades, and two years later he rejoined the State Department to focus on European political and military issues. He held a chair as professor at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., from 1996 to 2001.

      Fukuyama's first major work, The End of History and the Last Man (1992), earned international acclaim and was widely read by both the mainstream public and academics. His thesis—introduced as a magazine article in 1989, when communism in eastern Europe was collapsing—posited that Western-style liberal democracy not only was the victor of the Cold War but marked the last ideological stage in the long march of history. He traced parallel tracks with his follow-up books: Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (1995), which was popular in the business market; and The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order (1999), a conservative look at American society in the second half of the 20th century. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, critics of his thesis argued that Islamic fundamentalism threatened the hegemony of the West. Fukuyama dismissed them, however, by arguing that the attacks were part of “a series of rearguard actions” against what he believed was the prevailing political philosophy of the new globalism.

      In 2001 Fukuyama became a professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Washington. Shortly thereafter he published Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (2002), which examines the potential role biotechnology could play in the course of human development. The work reveals the dangers of preselecting human traits, extending average life spans, and an overreliance on mood-altering drugs. As a member of the President's Council on Bioethics (2001–05), Fukuyama argued for tight federal regulation of genetic engineering. He later wrote State-Building: Governance and the World Order in the 21st Century (2004), in which he discussed how fledgling democratic nations could be made to succeed.

      Although long considered a major figure in neoconservatism, Fukuyama later distanced himself from that political movement. He also became an opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a war he had initially supported (see Iraq War). In America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy (2006), he criticized neoconservatives and Pres. George W. Bush (Bush, George W.) and his administration's policies after the September 11 attacks.

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