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The End of History and the Last Man is a philosophical and social book written by American scholar and political philosopher Francis Fukuyama. In the summer of 1989, National Interest magazine published an article titled "The End of History?" with the basic thesis that liberal democracy, based on values such as freedom, individualism, equality, popular sovereignty, and principles of economic liberalism, constitutes the end of ideological evolution for humanity and thus the globalization of liberal democracy as a final formula for human government. Regardless of how these principles manifest in different societies, The End of History does not mean the cessation of events or the world's existence, nor does it suggest the automatic adoption of democracy by all societies.

Following the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Francis used dialectics as a driving force behind human history. This history is not just a record of events but a continuous process of human thought ascension. The driving forces behind this ascension are modern natural science and the struggle for recognition. He discussed how this struggle manifests in fields such as culture, international politics, ethics, religion, nationalism, and work.

The Last Man is an analysis of the post-recognition stage and the supposed end of dialectics, a man after postmodernity and posthumanism. The book was published in 1992 and caused a significant stir, leading to Fukuyama's rise to fame. Critics' impressions varied, with some seeing Fukuyama as not just affirming liberal victory but also explaining its meaning, while others viewed it as merely a liberalistic triumphalism after the Cold War.

Background

The article sparked an unusual and unprecedented controversy upon its publication. The New York Times published an opening article that mentioned Fukuyama belonged to what is called in academic circles "the real world" because he was then the Deputy Director of Political Planning at the US Department of State. In the same opening, it was reported that Francis said he did not understand why there was a stir since the article was not related to any policy but rather just something to think about. According to Stanford Daily, The New York Times' opening was written in an accusatory tone with added observations from critics, but events that occurred a few weeks later were enough to change public impressions and make Fukuyama's article historical in some way.

According to Francis in an article published in 1999 titled "Reviews: The Last Man in a Bottle," the seeds of the book began in 1987 when he met Owen Harris, one of the founders of National Interest, who asked him to contribute to the magazine. Fukuyama was then working as a researcher on Soviet politics for the RAND Corporation and did not have anything to offer until he read Mikhail Gorbachev's speech that included the phrase: "Since competition is one of the most important aspects of capitalism." Fukuyama contacted a political thinker he did not name and said, "If that's true, we've reached the end of history," borrowing Hegel's famous phrase. The observation became the basis for a lecture Fukuyama gave at the University of Chicago, followed by the article he submitted to National Interest.

Fukuyama wrote in 1999 that the idea for the book began with his reading Gorbachev's speech and the realization that if competition was indeed one of the most important aspects of capitalism, then they had reached the end of history. He discussed how this concept manifested in various fields such as culture, international politics, ethics, religion, nationalism, and work.

The Last Man is an analysis of the post-recognition stage and the supposed end of dialectics, a man after postmodernity and posthumanism.