Francis Fukuyama

In his book The Origins of Political Order, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama argued that the rule of law is the most difficult pillar for a successful modern society to construct.

Is Humour the Best Antidote to Tyranny?

British-American author Andrew Keen has been travelling the globe to investigate what he calls "the contemporary crisis of democracy" for his Keen On Democracy podcast series.

In this episode, he talks to Michael Zantovksy, a Czech diplomat, writer and human rights activist, on how to fight authoritarianism with humour.

Brussels, the capital of the European Union, has been under the spotlight last week because of the NATO Heads of State meeting. The meeting was not fully an official NATO summit in real terms but has nevertheless been an important episode in the history of the Alliance.

US President-elect Donald Trump is moving into the White House on Friday, yet the world has already changed. The niceties have been cast aside, political rhetoric has assumed a rawness that until now was associated only with military action, and political correctness has been replaced by directness in the conveyance of the political message.

'The Puzzle of Non-Western Democracy' by Richard Youngs (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 213 pages, $20)

When the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union dissolved, a new era of democratic expansionism was heralded, as Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history, optimistically assuming human ideological evolution had ended and liberal democracy ultimately triumphed over the authoritarianism of communism and fascism as the final form of human government.

Since the end of the Cold War, the international system has been fluctuating. While the bipolar system has ended, no equivalent is in place yet. In the early days of the post-Cold War era, some talked about the unipolar moment as the United States dominated the world with its unrivalled economic and military power.

American political scientist and economist Francis Fukuyama shares his views on the geopolitical implications of the Ukraine crisis, in an interview for Deutsche Welle.