The most significant revision to Fukuyama's thinking was on modernization theory: he originally believed economic development and growth of industrial/information economies would create incentives for more liberal political organization, but China has disproven this by surpassing earlier industrializers in per capita income without democratizing.
causalpending
Speaker
Francis FukuyamaEvidence Quote
“China has surpassed those countries in terms of per capita income. uh and if modernization were simply true, they should have democratized or at least liberalized a long time ago. Uh and they haven't.”
Source
Francis Fukuyama: Why Global Order Is Breaking Down And Why the “End of History” Never Happened— Decoding Geopolitics Podcast with Dominik PreslCreated: 8/12/2026, 5:52:02 PM
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