The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Rethinking the "end of history"

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Sean Illing talks with political scientist and author Francis Fukuyama, whose ideas about the "end of history" and the ideological supremacy of liberal democracy became well-known through his 1989 essay "The End of History?". They discuss Fukuyama's new book, Liberalism and Its Discontents, as well as some of the modern challenges facing liberalism today, what Fukuyama thinks of the radically redistributive politics of the Bernie Sanders campaign, and whether he thinks it's still the case that liberal democracy stands victorious in the war of ideas.

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox

Guest: Francis Fukuyama (@FukuyamaFrancis), author; professor, Stanford University

References: 

  • Liberalism and Its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama (FSG; 2022)
  • "The End of History?" by Francis Fukuyama (The National Interest, v. 16; Summer 1989)
  • The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama (Free Press; 1992)
  • "Francis Fukuyama Predicted the End of History. It's Back (Again)," by Jennifer Schuessler (New York Times; May 10)


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    This episode was made by: 

    • Producer: Erikk Geannikis
    • Editor: Amy Drozdowska
    • Engineer: Patrick Boyd
    • Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall

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