The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : The End Of Neoconservatism?

Francis Fukuyama returns to the ground he stomped over a decade ago in The End of History to announce, in The New York Times, the failure of the neoconservative project. Fukuyama's editorial asks all the right questions and supplies many of the wrong answers. To wit: 'the overarching lesson that emerges from these cases is that the United States does not get to decide when and where democracy comes about. By definition, outsiders can't "impose" democracy on a country that doesn't want it; demand for democracy and reform must be domestic.'

The truth of "democracy promotion" is that often a sudden application of power in a "hostile" environment tips the scales. Indeed, Fukuyama's "process" frequently crosses over into what he might call outright meddling -- think about Georgia or Ukraine. What was Radio Free Europe but an attack of ideas that countries didn't want? Fukuyama struggles on the horns of this dilemma. Discussion extended here.

topics:
Environment, Conservatism, Neoconservatism

About the Author

James Poulos is a doctoral student at Georgetown and the former Political Editor of Culture11. His writing has been published by The American Conservative, The National Interest, The New Atlantis, Partnership for a Secure America, and The Weekly Standard. In addition to AmSpecBlog, he has blogged at The American Scene, Doublethink, and Postmodern Conservative, which he founded. With degrees in political science and law from Duke and USC, he is currently at work on a dissertation about life after Napoleon. In his spare time he anti-blogs at Pish Tosh.