Was it the adherence of George W. Bush to Francis Fukuyama’s neo-con theory of the ‘End of History’ that resulted in the disastrous miscalculations of his presidency?
That is the contention of Khaasim al-Mateer who writes for the Sunni-leaning Sotal Iraq newspaper. But beyond his criticism of the Bush years – and not only those of the son, but the father as well, al-Mateer praises the global progress made during the period that intervened between the two Bush tenures – in other words, the Clinton years.
Khaasim Al-Mateer writes in part:
In just a few days – on the 20th of this month – George Bush W. Bush will leave the White House forever. He will do so in the shadow of deteriorating financial and economic conditions across the capitalist world, first and foremost in the United States. This has done serious damage not only to the “end of” theory of Fukuyama, but to the “beginning of” theory of the two Bush’s – although during the Clinton period, which came between the two Bush tenures, the world did witness something of a strengthening of the ideas of democracy.
“No one can predict what theory Barack Obama will adopt for the world, since over the next decade, capital markets will undergo new financial and economic problems which are likely to continue to plague the theory of an End of History. Perhaps while the entire Bush family is busy breeding dogs on their Texas ranch, Obama will simply be left licking their dishes! ”
By Khaasim Al-Mateer
Translated By James Jacobson
January 9, 2008
Iraq – Sotal Iraq – Original Article (Arabic)
The name George W. Bush will forever be associated with the period of history now coming to a close, which has been characterized by major global change, earth-shaking events and anxiety. During this time, people hungered for a real democratic transformation along the lines described by American writer Francis Fukuyama in his 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man . In the book, Fukuyama theorized that the end of the Cold War would result in the end of humankind’s ideological evolution and an expansion of Western democracy around the world.
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