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Francis Fukuyama on Putin: Even 'Russia is Liberal in Many Respects'

Valeria Jegisman

   This story originated in [1]VOA's Russian Service.

   WASHINGTON --Sometimes history has a funny way of confounding its
   chroniclers.

   In a recent Financial Times interview, Russian President Vladimir
   [2]Putin declared the liberal world order obsolete.

   Sitting with reporters at the Kremlin hours before attending the Group
   of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where he roundly condemned open-door
   policies toward migrants, the Russia leader decried "the so-called
   liberal idea" as a moribund enterprise at odds with "traditional
   values" of ordinary people the world over.

   "Our Western partners have admitted that some elements of the liberal
   idea, such as multiculturalism, are no longer tenable," Putin said,
   criticizing immigration policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and
   touting President Donald Trump's continued push to build a wall as part
   of a [3]broader crackdown on migrants.

   It was 30 years ago this summer, just months before another wall came
   tumbling down, that a young economist named Francis Fukuyama published
   his landmark essay, [4]The End of History?, in which he asked whether
   liberalism had triumphed over competing ideologies.

   Because the highest aspiration of all humans is recognition and
   acceptance of their rights, he argued, liberalism would inevitably
   triumph.

   But as even the Stanford scholar himself now acknowledges, there are
   competing elements in human nature, and the sometimes predominant human
   desire for freedom is eclipsed, especially in the face of tumultuous
   change and uncertainty, by an equally predominant desire for the
   security of strongman rule.

   VOA's Russian Service sat down with Fukuyama to get his take on Putin's
   latest claim.

   The following has been edited for brevity and concision.

References

   1. http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/
   2. https://www.ft.com/content/670039ec-98f3-11e9-9573-ee5cbb98ed36
   3. https://www.voanews.com/usa/immigration/trump-immigrant-deportations-start-weekend-10-cities
   4. https://bit.ly/2fHcQRp

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