China’s authoritarian way can rival liberal democracy if it doesn’t tear itself apart, says End of History author
- Francis Fukuyama says Beijing challenged the expectations he had when he published his book in 1992, but Chinese system must evolve to flourish
China’s model of authoritarian government could be an alternative to Western-style liberal democracy but only if Beijing manages to control social stresses and maintain economic stability, according to American political scientist Francis Fukuyama.
The Stanford University academic’s assessment was published on the website of the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong this week.
Academics have not agreed on the definition of a Chinese model but debate has intensified over the past decade over whether a mix of a market economy and authoritarian government along Chinese lines could be a viable alternative to Western liberal democracy.
The assessment by Fukuyama – who in a 1989 essay forecast the triumph of political and economic liberalism after the collapse of Soviet Union and in 1992 wrote bestseller The End of History – was made public by Yoshikazu Kato, an adjunct associate professor at the Asia Global Institute, in a document that summarised email exchanges between the two from 2014 until last year.
In the document, Fukuyama said his idea of the end of history had been challenged by China, which, with its authoritarian semi-capitalist system, might become the world’s most powerful country.