By Liu Lingling, People’s Daily
Francis Fukuyama, the American political scientist best known for his “The End of History” thesis, recently acknowledged in an interview with Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that if China continues along its current development trajectory, the predictions he made about the country four decades ago will have proven incorrect.
This is not the first time Fukuyama has adjusted his views. In April, speaking on a podcast, he remarked that China had developed a highly distinctive model and that it could potentially become a viable alternative to Western democracy.
Such statements are particularly striking coming from Fukuyama. His shift, from firmly viewing Western liberal democracy as the ultimate destination of human political development to acknowledging that China’s model may offer an alternative path, represents more than a personal academic reassessment. It reflects three broader shifts taking place in today’s world.
First, reality has repeatedly challenged “The End of History” thesis.
Fukuyama’s theory emerged in the aftermath of the Cold War, when many in the West believed their political system had achieved a decisive victory and represented the final stage of political evolution.
More than three decades later, however, the societies where history was supposedly “over” have hardly become models of lasting stability. Instead, many have faced deepening political polarization, social fragmentation and persistent governance challenges. Reality has increasingly revealed the limitations of the “The End of History” narrative.
As Singaporean scholar Kishore Mahbubani recently wrote in the South China Morning Post, “The West was never the whole world. It is time to move on.”
Second, Chinese modernization has demonstrated remarkable resilience and vitality.
Over the past several decades, China has completed, within a few decades, the industrialization process that took developed Western countries centuries — achieving development accomplishments that have attracted worldwide attention. By pursuing a modernization path suited to its own national conditions, China has created a new form of human advancement.
From a country once plagued by poverty and underdevelopment to the world’s second-largest economy, and from bare subsistence to moderate prosperity in all respects, China’s achievements have not been accidental. They are the result of consistently following a modernization path tailored to China’s own realities.
The achievements of Chinese modernization has shown that “The End of History” thesis does not hold. It has also challenged the notion that modernization necessarily means Westernization. In doing so, it has encouraged an increasing number of Global South countries to explore development paths suited to their own national conditions, injecting greater diversity and vitality into global modernization.
Third, Western perceptions of China are undergoing a broader reassessment.
In recent years, more rational and objective voices about China have emerged in Western countries. In a recent monograph, German sinologist Thomas Heberer called for a more comprehensive and pragmatic understanding of China.
From poverty alleviation and green development to technological innovation and climate governance, China’s achievements and approaches are gaining growing recognition and drawing increasing international interest. Meanwhile, social media trends such as “becoming Chinese” and “Chinamaxxing” have enabled overseas internet users to experience Chinese culture in increasingly immersive ways.
As the world turns its gaze eastward, it is also searching for new possibilities for development and the future. Amid growing uncertainty and turbulence, countries are seeking greater stability and predictability while embracing new opportunities created through openness and cooperation. This sense of confidence and reliability has become an important source of China’s appeal.
Ultimately, however, China’s development path will not be determined by how others view it. China will continue to create new opportunities for the world through new progress in Chinese modernization, while contributing stability and certainty, as a major country, to a world undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.
History has not ended, nor will it ever end. Instead, it continues to open new chapters — richer, more inclusive and more diverse, embracing every path that is grounded in reality and capable of delivering progress.
As the world turns east, Francis Fukuyama revises his predictions on China
