kagan 1, fukuyama 0

of all the articles, in all the foreign policy journals, in all the world, none was as dumb as francis fukuyama's announcement that we have reached "the end of history" and the final triumph of western liberal democracy. all quite presumptuous and wrong.

unlike coca-cola, the kind of liberal social order fukuyama has in mind has never been much liked around the world. it only ever existed among a tiny handful of western nations (and post-ww2 japan). it is grudgingly admitted in qualified form in asia and south america, is non-existent in africa, and is violently repudiated in the middle east.

robert kagan's new book "the return of history and the end of dreams" (clumsy title) is much closer to the mark. kagan describes the world as it really is: authoritarian, increasingly protectionist, and minatory.

if the incarnadine twentieth century has taught us anything (and, of course, it hasn't), it is the precariousness of civilization. ideology—the nelson muntz of politics—is back, refreshed, and full of beans. in temper and circumstance we are cosily close to the 1930s.

history isn't over. the world remains, as ever, a work in progress. or, in this case, regress.