Opinion | Was Francis Fukuyama Right All Along? (Gift Article)

The thing is, he was wrong, but not for the reason most people think he was wrong.

Great interview by @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social with @frankfukuyama.bsky.social, discussing recognition, Nietzsche, Trump, state capability, AI, China & more. "And you say Hegel understands the human soul better than that, and that the human soul wants more than that. It wants recognition."

Here's something to consider... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

In 1989 Francis Fukuyama published an essay titled "The End of History". Now remembered as a triumphalist argument heralding the permanent victory of liberal democracy in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

FF: But that’s not enough for a certain group, a certain subset, of human beings. They want to dominate. They want to be more than others. It takes, oftentimes, a very negative form of political domination — so you want to be a dictator, an autocrat. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

Francis has been peddling this bullshit since the 60s and history is demonstrably still happening. Not that a boy genius like Ezra would notice anything like that.

Intelligent discussion between Francis Fukuyama and Ezra Klein on the state of the United States and the world (1h17) www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

"Was Francis Fukuyama Right All Along?" No, and he is still wrong. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

The Ezra Klein Show: Why I Can't Stop Thinking About 'The End of History' Episode webpage: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o... Media file: dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3...

Was Francis Fukuyama Right All Along? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

The Ezra Klein Show: Why I Can't Stop Thinking About 'The End of History' Webseite der Episode: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o... Mediendatei: dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3...

#EzraKlein #FrancisFukuyama I lost a few games of chess to Fukuyama when I was a teenager. His father worked with my grandfather at Cornell. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-francis-fukuyama.html

Was Francis Fukuyama Right All Along? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

I recently published an essay on human nature, here is Ezra Kline talking to Francis Fukuyam about human nature and it's affect on politics. The fundamental human flaw---resentment. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

The political scientist Francis Fukuyama looks back on his 1992 book, “The End of History and the Last Man,” and what it has predicted about the state of liberalism today www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

Frank Fukuyama was right all along. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/o...