Fifteen years ago, Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history, the death of ideology, the victory of market economics, and various similar things. His media appearances since have done little to dispell his image as market-economics-fundamentalist.
Now it seems he may be changing his tune. This piece in Sunday’s Observer has him suggesting that perhaps strong government controls are necessary in some places. Hear hear.
But in the midst of it all, what really amused me was this piece, situated in the midst of a paragraph talking about countries that he believes to have gotten the market/government balance wrong:
This is the reality of such failed states as Liberia, Somalia, or Afghanistan. Some, such as the Central Asian dictatorships that have emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union, manage to be strong in all the the wrong areas: they are good at jailing journalists or political opponents, but can’t process visas or business licences in less than six months.
I’m sure I’ve come across other countries, countries that he admires more, that can’t process such things within that time frame. Perhaps such pieces should be read alongside others like this one.