Liberalism in a state of crisis

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War marked a new era in world politics.  For many geopolitical experts, it was championed as the ascendancy of the western liberal world order over competing political and economic ideologies. It was, as prominent American political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously declared, “the end of history”  and the beginning of long term peace and prosperity. But that post-Soviet optimism did not last long. The past decade has seen a rise in authoritarian leadership, widespread distrust in liberal institutions, polarization on the left and right, and a new war being fought on European soil. On this episode of the Munk Debates Podcast, we’re joined by that same political scientist – Professor Francis Fukuyama – to talk about how the world has changed in 30 years, and whether liberal democracies around the world can withstand the strong forces that seek to dismantle them.

Click here for more information about Francis Fukuyama’s latest book, Liberalism and its Discontents

“Ethnic and religious diversity is hard for any society to deal with, whether they’re democratic or authoritarian. However, liberalism as a doctrine was invented to deal with diversity”

-FRANCIS FUKUYAMA