More than three decades after publishing The End of History and the Last Man, political scientist Francis Fukuyama is looking back on the ideas that made him famous, and asking whether democracy can still withstand the forces reshaping the world.
In this episode of Ways to Change the World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy talks to Fukuyama about Donald Trump, the rise of populism, why young men are driving political upheaval across the West, and whether social media has destroyed our shared sense of reality. Through the lens of his new book, In the Realm of the Last Man, they discuss why people are drawn to extreme causes, what Europe should do in a world where America can no longer be relied upon, and whether liberal democracy is entering a period of dangerous turbulence.
Fukuyama also reflects on changing his mind about the Iraq War and free-market economics, the intellectual friendships he lost along the way, and why he believes good thinkers must be willing to abandon ideas when the facts change.
