Francis Fukuyama – postmodern imperialist

The ideas of neoliberal philosopher are a recipe for ‘forever wars’

Former US policy wonk Francis Fukuyama declared in the Guardian in 1989 that the European Union was the most perfect organisation ever created, just one more example of the ‘End of History’.

What he meant by that was that the breakup of the Soviet Union nearly 40 years ago marked the apex of human development through the victory of capitalism.

“What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalisation of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government,” he declared.

There is of course a major contradiction here as the EU‘s most powerful institutions are entirely unelected, and the European Commission imposes neoliberal policies enshrined in treaties drawn up in secret that cannot be amended by any member state unless there is complete unanimity.

In other words, the EU is neither ‘liberal’ or ‘democratic’.

Despite the fact that much of the world is also not, in fact, run along the lines of the EU by legions of lanyard wearing technocrats, Fukuyama’s ideas have become a mainstay of the postmodern left which has embraced ‘Europe’ as a lodestar.

Fukuyama himself claims to draw upon the philosophies and ideologies of Hegel and Karl Marx, who defined human history as a linear progression as outlined by the enlightenment.

However, Fukuyama’s rather Eurocentric ideas seem to stem as much from the counter-enlightenment which has been so readily embraced by the postmodernists.

Counter-enlightenment ideas against reason, empiricism and progress emerged following the French revolution of 1789. A leading counter-enlightenment figure was Antoine de Rivarol who when denouncing such revolutionary activities noted: ‘when people cease to esteem, they cease to obey’.

Throughout nineteenth century the enlightenment produced two main ideologies of socialism and liberalism which recognised the role of universality, sovereignty and the nation state as the mainstays of peaceful development.

Opposition to these ideas formed the basis of 20th century fascist movements as Goebbels announced when the Nazis came to power: “The year 1789 is hereby abolished”.

As Richard Wolin argues in his book The Seduction of Unreason one of the peculiarities of our times is that counter enlightenment arguments of the old right have attained a new lease of life on the left.

This process began over 50 years ago with the failures of left movements in the West and a growing cynicism against reason, the nation state and democracy among the postmodern left whose influence has grown steadily ever since.

A clear example of this was the almost total absence of left involvement in the referendum campaign on Britain’s membership of the EU.

As a result, the Brexit debate became a narrow public battle within the Tory Party, with the left seen at best as largely ambivalent about the result.

Boris Johnson and David Cameron played both sides of the Brexit debate under the Tory banner

For the postmodern left issues such as political economy, sovereignty and the importance of the nation state as the only sphere where real democracy can meaningfully exist have been largely replaced with ‘identity’ politics and lifestyle issues.

Nonetheless, Brexit, which horrified Fukuyama, was a clear example of growing opposition to the neoliberal globalisation project with or without the left. This ideological vacuum across Europe has been filled with populist movements of the nationalist right as well as the election of Trump in the United States.

Of course, like many other establishment political scientists, Fukuyama denounces any questioning of corporate-driven globalisation as the work of the ‘extreme right’ and ’nativists’.

As a result, Fukuyama’s ideas have been embraced by western elites and much of the left alike in order to escape the democratic and political constraints of the nation state and ultimately to defend the status quo that has developed since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It also justifies a more aggressive imperialist role of the West in the world.

For example, former Foreign Office diplomat and chief advisor to Tony Blair, Robert Cooper has explicitly put forward the intellectual case for a new postmodern European empire to rule the third world.

"All the conditions seem to be there for a new imperialism,” he cheerfully explains.

This involves supporting internal violence by compliant Western-backed regimes and taking military action against those non-postmodern countries with so-called ‘humanitarian interventions’.

Cooper famously dismissed police violence during a Bahraini government crackdown, saying: "accidents happen", a real charmer.

He freely admits that this rather maniacal view of the world will involve tearing up the United Nations charter respecting the rights of nation states to self-determination and sovereignty.

Robert Cooper: Foreign Office maniac

This is extreme realpolitik in action and Mr Cooper is inspired by that paragon of democracy and freedom - The Roman Empire.

"Like Rome, this Europe would provide its citizens with some laws, some coins and the occasional road. None of this will be easy but perhaps it is possible to imagine a future Europe, with 30 or so members as a modernised, democratic, co-operative empire".

Cooper's "noble dream", as he put it, was recorded in his pamphlet, Reordering the World, complete with foreword by Blair himself.

It cold-bloodedly explains the need for the west to engage in brutal military action against weaker states in the political and economic interests of the western powers.

"The post-modern world has to start to get used to double standards. Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open co-operative security. But, when dealing with old-fashioned states outside the postmodern continent of Europe we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century.

"The need for colonisation is as great as it ever was in the 19th century," he says with a lot more frankness than Fukuyama.

Nevertheless, Fukuyama has for decades been similarly championing Western military action whilst simultaneously claiming that history has come to an end.

The most recent demand of this armchair general has been a call to “increase the pain Russians are suffering” by launching direct attacks on the country and making Crimea “uninhabitable”.

Ultimately his seemingly unrelenting desire to spark World War Three in the name of his own version of ‘liberal democracy’ reveals that his ideas are not only wide of the mark but could lead to the end of humanity itself.