The fall of the Berlin wall symbolised the end of communism, and the victory of liberal
democracy. The suddenness with which the soviet empire collapsed, without any resistance,
authorised the idea that democracy was going to triumph all over the globe. Fukuyama exposed in a
very controversial article "The End of History" , his thesis arguing that all the societies were moving
toward peace, prosperity and freedom, given that without any competition, democracy was going to
be considered as the most reliable system, especially after the manifestation of what both fascism and
Stalinism were capable of. "Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other
forms that have been tried from time to time" . Therefore, except for some regional issues, the world
was going to remain indefinitely into a liberal democratic system with capitalism, and the entire world would live under an international order, where human rights would be stronger than the use of force,
respecting the people' will. Following the Hegelian definition of History, which argues that "Human
History must therefore be seen not only as a succession of accomplishment, but more importantly as
a succession of different form of consciousness" , Fukuyama wrote about "the possibility that
History might be at an end" . Indeed, without any changes, can we actually say that History
continues?
[...] Indeed, the optimistic vision of a unique world democratic system has been strongly turned into a utopian idea by the first criminal terrorist act in New York, the 9th of September 2001. It symbolised the emergence of a new ideology, based on Islamic fundamental values, which reject the western model. To some extent, this new element might have proven Fukuyama's thesis incorrect. Recent events have shown that History continues. Eric Hobsbawm even refutes completely Fukuyama's thesis: only completely certain generalization about History is that, so long as there is a human race, it will go . Some historians, such as Alexis de Tocqueville, argued that History repeats itself over and over. [...]
[...] Without excusing Hitler, the Third Reich and the national socialism of their criminal responsibility, it is obvious that it resulted from the Great War, mainly from an unfair Versailles Treaty, the as it was called by the German leaders after the war. Versailles settlement could not possibly be the basis of a stable peace. It was doomed from the start, and another war was therefore practically certain” We might say that History is made of different periods. Each one is different from the last one, even though there are similarities. [...]
[...] national memories and old hatreds resurfaced, it was easy to see the revival of nationalism as the return of History and the root of Europe's future troubles” . Something new definitely started in 2001. But it is too early to analyse deeply the situation. Indeed, there is a problem of objectivity. “Nobody can write about his or her lifetime” . But we could argue that the recent terrorist attacks and the emergence of a new ideology could potentially change the international order. [...]
[...] History does sometimes start, stop and accelerate, fashioned by many major events, which definitely engender changes in the societies. The 20th century was not the end of History. Nevertheless, we 3 could argue that the continuity of the terrorist attacks in the late years symbolised the refusal of Western ideology, and to a certain extent, of globalisation. Even though it is too early to truly analyse what will be the consequences of those actions, there is no doubt that we have definitely entered a new era. [...]
[...] It is clear that History does accelerate. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the structural evolutions that occurred between the Roman Empire and 1600 in Europe are maybe as strong as those between 1700 and today. Indeed, the progress made in the late centuries, notably since the Industrial Revolution, has been incredibly fast compared to that which occurred in the first ten centuries. Event though there have been an important number of major events in those early centuries, none of them had change so deeply the societies. [...]
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