Ideology, virtue and well-being : a critical examination of Francis Fukuyama's notion of liberal democracy.

Abstract

This thesis is a critical examination of Fukuyama's "end of history" version of

liberalism, in which he announces the triumphant emergence of liberal democracy

as a universal form of governance. The thesis seeks to investigate Francis

Fukuyama's notion of liberal democracy and his arguments for it, in order to

assess the normative impact of market driven political and economic outcomes on

the human context or life satisfaction, especially recognition. This is contrasted

with Amartya Sen's notion of well-being in order to show that Fukuyama does not

pay attention to some of the basic moral demands of human life.

The thesis is comprised of an introduction and six chapters. The contents of

these chapters can be presented briefly as follows:

• The first chapter looks at how Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Kant use the

theory of social contract to explain the genesis and justification of the state.

Featuring prominently in all their versions of social contract are the values of

freedom, equality, and independence of the individual, the process of

consensus, the primacy of self-preservation and the necessity of the state.

Together these laid the basis for a philosophically reasoned and

progressive theory of politics. This chapter also looks at the theory of

laissez-faire, which paved the way for a free market economy. This doctrine

was developed in the thought of Adam Smith, Ricardo, Mill and Bentham.

For Fukuyama these thinkers inaugurated a tradition of political thought that

ultimately led to liberalism and democracy.

• The second chapter discusses the teleological view of history underlying the

philosophical theories of history advanced by Kant, Hegel, and Marx. Each

of these thinkers assumes that history is moving towards an end point or

goal. It is from these philosophers that Fukuyama appropriates the idea of

universality to envisage the universality of liberal democracy.

• The third chapter analyzes Fukuyama's "end of history" claim and his

arguments for it. When communism finally collapsed, liberal democracy was

the only remaining option, he claims. Drawing on Kant's idea of universal

history, Hegel's notion of a universal and homogeneous state and Marx's

materialist interpretation of history, Fukuyama envisages a global order that

will be ushered in by the universal and homogeneous liberal state which is the ultimate goal of liberal democracy. It is the duty of the liberal state to

ensure equal and mutual recognition and affirmation of its citizens' freedom.

• The fourth chapter stages a debate between Fukuyama and Sen in which

the question of life satisfaction and its achievability is addressed. Fukuyama

claims that human-beings desire recognition, and can best satisfy this

desire through liberal democracy. Sen for his part claims that people need

well-being, and can only achieve it through democracy, which he views as a

universal value. The discussion shows that although Fukuyama and Sen

may share similar political values they differ ideologically and in historical

vision.

• The fifth chapter deals with the critical evaluation of liberal democracy.

Several issues present major problems for liberal democracy. These issues

are liberal individualism as the central focus of liberalism and liberal

democracy; the global trend against gender bias; the political and cultural

homogenization of the world; the problem of parallel histories versus a

single inclusive history; desire-satisfaction versus need-satisfaction, and the

cultural preconditions of liberal democracy.

• The sixth chapter recapitulates the preceding chapters and spells out the

conclusion reached in the course of the thesis.

The findings on the notion of the "end of history" show that Fukuyama wishes the

equal and mutual recognition of the freedom and dignity of all individuals as well as

the affirmation of their individual rights. This concern for the individual is laudable.

However, excessive individualism threatens the fabric of every society, and

Fukuyama realizes that this threat is especially strong in liberal democracy. His

suggested solution is to cultivate social capital in the form of trust. This thesis

concludes that Fukuyama's medicine is no match for the disease; the whole thrust

of the intellectual tradition leading to liberal democracy - and of much else in

Western culture since Hobbes - is in the direction of excessive individualism and

the withering of community. Moreover, where Fukuyama sees isothymia - the

desire for equal recognition, the psychological truth is probably that people desire

to be recognized as superior - mega/othymia, again making individualism

intrinsically more threatening to a sense of community than Fukuyama seems to realize. Fukuyama suggests that an international consensus in favour of liberal

democracy is emerging. But it appears that such a consensus is unlikely to arise nation-

states fear disenfranchisement and assimilation and thus insist on their

sovereignty, effectively blocking any shift from the nation-state to a homogeneous

and universal liberal state. It is difficult to generate the consensus needed to

receive it as a universal system, because not all people subscribe to its cultural

preconditions. The satisfaction of human desire of any kind cannot be

universalized since human existence is centrally characterized by diversity of

context, culture, and perception. Any attempt to impose cultural or ideological

homogeneity requires conquest - cultural or military imperialism.

The triumphant emergence of liberal democracy cannot be the ultimate end

of the whole of human history. If this were the case, it would no longer be worth

trying to increase human knowledge, since knowledge always points to an open

future in terms of how it will be used for further advancement.

Due to its internal contradictions, such as the tension between excessive

individualism and community, liberal democracy has unintended negative

consequences. Liberal democracy is not yet the final ideology leading to human

satisfaction at a global level for this generation and generations to come as long as

human thought evolves. This will remain the case as long as Fukuyama's

admission that liberal democracy only works where its cultural preconditions are

met, remains true.