Shift of Political Power

Throughout time, foreign affairs throughout the world have been the stage for many great conflicts. Most recently, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we have seen a great shift of power. Politically, economically, and religiously these shifts have created great conflicts. From both World Wars, to the Cold War, to now the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the world has undergone changes and these conflicts have adjusted more than just borders, rather than our outlook on our world in which we live. To many, such as Francis Fukuyama, the end to world history and struggles is essentially over. However, to others, including men such as Samuel P. Huntington, the world has just begun to see the horizon of great civilizational conflicts. These views, of both Fukuyama and Huntington, although dated, are still relevant and should be considered when looking towards the future of international relations. Fukuyama hypothesizes that we, as a society, are at the “endpoint of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” He claimed Hegel’s belief that a moment when a “final, rational form of society and state became victorious” is now and we must embrace this fact and prosper economically. Fukuyama saw liberalism as the vanguard of this universal homogeneous state because of its recognition and protection of man’s universal right to freedom and the government’s existence only with the consent of the governed, limited government. As he likes to point out, the success of Asia in the past few decades is due to their new stake in free market economics. He also shows that Soviet Union failed because of the liberal’s material victory over the Soviet’s ideals. Speaking about the Soviet Union, Fukuyama claims that there have been only two major challenges to liberalism, fascism and communism. Fascism was destroyed by its inability to fulfill its beginning aims. People endorsed fascism

Cited: Fukuyama, Francis. “The End of History?” The National Interest. Barrus Reader (pages 1-13) Huntington, Samuel P. “The Clash of Civilizations” Foreign Affairs. Barrus Reader (pages 1-13)