THE END OF HISTORY AND THE LAST MAN BY FRANCIS FUKUYAMA: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF MEANING IN A WESTERN GRAND NARRATIVE
THE END OF HISTORY AND THE LAST MAN BY FRANCIS FUKUYAMA: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF MEANING IN A WESTERN GRAND NARRATIVE

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores the ways in which historiographical language contributes to the construction of meaning in Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man. Scrutinizing the narrative text structures, Fukuyama’s book is shown to exemplify a revival of ‘endist’ thought as a means to create a western grand narrative. These structures seem to help the creation of a historical construct whose analysis shows two things. Firstly, the grand narrative constitutes a privileged link between a theoretical commitment to universality and the idea of globalism. Secondly, given the interplay of real and ideal events in the historical construct, the grand narrative induces a product of fiction out of which the myth of globalisation grows. The paper explains and evaluates the textualization of these ideological and mythological meanings in Fukuyama’s grand narrative as a way to make sense of the development of a new world order. Accordingly, the overall aim is to provide specific insights into the construction of Fukuyama’s end-of-history scenario by reassessing his grand narrative as a ‘thought experiment’ for understanding globalisation. It will also pay particular attention to how the political constructs of East and West are legitimated in Fukuyama’s western grand narrative.

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