Evil Empire 9preserve liberalism in the political sphere. I want to avoid the materialist
determinism that says that liberal economics inevitably produces liberal
politics, because I believe that both economics and politics presuppose
an autonomous prior state of consciousness that makes them possible.
But that state of consciousness that permits the growth of liberalism
seems to stabilize in the way one would expect at the end of history if
it is underwritten by the abundance of a modern free market economy.With a sort of Clintonian optimism, Fukuyama regularly touts
the fulfillment people will find in the neoliberal order at the “end of
history.” From “spectacular [material] abundance” to self-validation
and equal representation, the marriage of market capitalism and
Western liberal democracy will provide, plugging the deepest holes
of want in our bodies and our souls. At the same time, Fukuyama is
essentially describing the mechanical workings of a life-governing
apparatus that will whistle and froth and steam on whether your
wants are met or not.
One could argue that the greatest support for Fukuyama’s argument is
the fact that, even if the globalized marriage of market capitalism and liberal
democracy does not constitute an ideal social order in regard to humanity’s
collective fulfillment, prosperity, peace, or happiness, it still seems to mark
the decisive end to our development by way of outright domination. This
is the subtext to the innocuous-sounding, jargony point that the particular
“state of consciousness that permits the growth of liberalism seems to stabilize
in the way one would expect at the end of history.” Translation: the neolib-
eral order will “stabilize” its own dominance by continually incentivizing,
rewarding, and securing the dominance of those who believe that it truly is
the culmination of human development. Their faith in the “end of history”
is validated by the enduring fact of neoliberalism—the world itself stands
as a monument to their historical vision.