“The global democratic recession threatens liberal political systems,” denounces the political scientist and thinker in his new essay
“Global democratic recession threatens liberal political systems around the world.” But liberalism “is not obsolete”, it is “necessary” and although it requires sacrifice, it will once again be the pillar of democracies. It is the thesis that Francis Fukuyama (Chicago, age 69) maintains in his new essay ‘Liberalism and its disillusioned’ (Deusto). ‘How to defend and protect our liberal democracies’ is the subtitle of this apostle of ‘classical liberalism’, a renowned political scientist and thinker, one of the most well-known and famous theorists in the world. He presented it to the Spanish reader this Monday with a conference at the Rafael del Pino Foundation.
Fukuyma notes how rights and freedoms have “suffered” in recent years and how the coming to power of leaders like Trump, Bolsonaro, Orbán or Kaczyński “violates the separation of powers, judicial independence and attempts to control the media.” .
He argues that the expansion of these “illiberal democracies” is the result of the inability of liberal regimes to address the inequality caused by globalized capitalism. It analyzes the objections to liberalism, which is “seriously threatened worldwide” by conservative and progressive postulates, to conclude that its problem “does not really lie in the fundamental weaknesses of its doctrine.” What is causing the growing discontent is “the wrong way liberal systems have developed since the 1970s.”
But as great as the displeasure is, he argues that the liberal option “remains superior to the illiberal alternatives.” The political scientist thus ensures that liberalism, contrary to Vladimir Putin’s claims, “is not obsolete, but remains needed today more than ever in a diverse and interconnected world.” But he knows that defending liberal democracy is ‘costly’ and requires ‘sacrifice and solidarity’.
His controversial essay ‘The End of History’ and the Last Man’ (1992), a contemporary classic, made Fukuyama famous. He argued that the fall of communism marked the end of an ideological struggle and the universalization of Western liberal democracies” that are now being questioned. But the story continued and wrote new and dark chapters. After 9/11 and the crash that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008, came populism and the hardening of the Chinese and Russian regimes.
Now Fukuyama warns of the dangers of this liberal decline, a doctrine that has been ravaged by populism and “has paid dearly for its mistakes.” But he believes liberalism is “the only effective formula for managing diversity” when homogeneous societies with a single culture or religion have ended.
He regrets that liberalism is confused with capitalism and does not believe that a modern and prosperous society can exist without a market economy, property rights and business freedom protected by legal certainty. Also that liberalism is confused with the ideas of Milton Friedman who led economic policy leaders like Reagan or Thather, who deregulated, privatized and increased inequality.
He argues that unscrupulous ultra-liberalism is the seed of today’s populism, which feeds on the discontent of those who feel mistreated by inequality and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. He also sees a threat in “tech giants that grow on the sacrifice of citizens and governments.” He does not deny that he has deviated to the left in recent years. It’s a “fair way,” he says, of responding to events such as the First Iraq War or the global financial crises, both the result of “disastrously wrong approaches.”
“Long-term optimist,” he admits that the past 15 years have been “catastrophic” for democracies, encouraging the rise of authoritarianism. He believes that Russia made a “historic geostrategic mistake” with the war in Ukraine. He sees it as “crucial” to send weapons to Ukraine to avoid “the fatal freeze” of the conflict. He believes that Putin, whose tone is “more fascist than anything else,” is trying to reverse the democratic contagion of Eastern Europe after the collapse of the USSR and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Added to an increasingly autocratic China and with its stagnant economy, “the current situation could be the beginning of the revival of liberalism.”
Fukuyama is now a professor at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and directs the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He was a professor at John Hopkins University and George Mason University School of Public Policy. He was a researcher at the RAND Corporation and deputy director of policy planning at the United States Department of State.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
