HOW CAN WE BUILD STRONG STATES?
Back in 1989, when the young was working as policy planner at the State Department in Washington, he wrote an article about the end of history.
In his essay, Francis Fukuyama argued that we had found “the final form of human government” – liberal democracy – and that all countries should aim to achieve this ideological endpoint. This article raced through intellectual circles like wildfire.
The article became a book and the book became a best seller not only in his native US, but in France, Japan and Chile.
Fifteen years later, Fukuyama is still thinking, and still writing. In his new book, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century he argues that a system where strong states bolster their weaker counterparts is the only way forward.
Countries that function well not only have strong armies, good schools and effective healthcare, but also the means to enforce laws.
But how do you create new strong states where corruption, poverty and colonial legacies are still rife?
Laurie Taylor talks to Francis Fukuyama about his current theses.
Is it possible to airlift in spanking new institutions to failing states? What does a state mean and how is it connected to our ideas about national identity? Should we have reasons to be cheerful or reasons to despair?
Additional information:
Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University
The End of History and the Last Man
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN 0140134557
Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity
Publisher: The Free Press
ISBN 0684825252
The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order
Publisher: Free Press
ISBN 0684865777
Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN 1861974957
State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN 1861977816
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