The fifth and final part of this book addresses the question of
the "end of history," and the creature who emerges at the end, the "last man." In the course of the original debate over the National
Interest article, many people assumed that the possibility of the
end of history revolved around the question of whether there
were viable alternatives to liberal democracy visible in the world
today. There was a great deal of controversy over such questions
as whether communism was truly dead, whether religion or ultranationalism
might make a comeback, and the like. But the
deeper and more profound question concerns the goodness of liberal
democracy itself, and not only whether it will succeed against
its present-day rivals. Assuming that liberal democracy is, for the
moment, safe from external enemies, could we assume that successful
democratic societies could remain that way indefinitely? Or
is liberal democracy prey to serious internal contradictions, contradictions
so serious that they will eventually undermine it as a
political system? There is no doubt that contemporary democracies
face any number of serious problems, from drugs, homelessness,
and crime to environmental damage and the frivolity of consumerism.
But these problems are not obviously insoluble on the basis
of liberal principles, nor so serious that they would necessarily lead
to the collapse of society as a whole, as communism collapsed in the
1980s