End of History (Francis Fukuyama)

Overview

End of History is a political and philosophical concept often attributed to Francis Fukuyama in his book The End of History and the Last Man. The "End of History" refers to the idea that a particular political and economic system may constitute the final form of human government. According to Fukuyama, this takes the form of a liberal democracy and a market economy. Memes about the "End of History" play on the idea put forth by Fukuyama, with some memes joking about how the rise of ideologies like fascism contradicts his conclusions about liberalism being the final form of governance.

Background

Fukuyama was not the first to theorize about the "End of History," with philosophers like Hegel and later Heidegger grappling with what it means to "historicize" and reason with the past. However, Fukuyama came to be most closely associated with the phrase after he published his book The End of History and the Last Man in 1992.^[1]

The idea for Fukuyama's book sprung from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and centered around the idea that liberal democracy and the market economy are now the standard for governments, now that ideologies like fascism and communism have both fallen to give way to largely liberal democracies around the world.^[2]

Online Presence

Fukuyama's "End of History" thesis gained renewed attention after the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections, as seen in coverage by Vox.^[3]

A meme posted to Reddit's /r/dankmemes^[4] on October 28th, 2017, used the phrase "end of history" to joke about Spain's final form of government being communism, gathering over 100 upvotes in seven years (seen below).

On July 6th, 2019, Redditor^[5] /u/ZviHM posted a meme about Fukuyama's work being proven wrong by "current events" (seen below).

On July 19th, 2019, X^[6] user @BungaCast posted a meme about Fukuyama's "end of history" thesis, gathering over 600 likes in five years (seen below, left). On September 30th, 2023, Redditor^[7] /u/New_Antelope2060 posted a meme about Fukuyama's theses to /r/NonCredibleDiplomacy, gathering over 300 upvotes in six months (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References