Francis Fukuyama’s 1989 essay, “The End of History?” posited that liberal democracy had triumphed as the ultimate form of government, marking an endpoint in humanity’s ideological evolution. While Fukuyama’s thesis captured the optimism of the post-Cold War era, it overlooked the enduring complexities of global power dynamics.
Nonetheless, the belief that the era of war was over and a new, unbridled era of peace beckoned—guaranteed and backstopped by American military might—took root in the capitals of Western Europe.
The unfolding debate over European security—centered on Ukraine but extending to the continent’s broader role in global affairs—has torn this gossamer notion asunder once and for all.
It stands exposed as the flight of whimsy it always was.
History did not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Instead, Europe stopped paying attention to the existential threats that surround it.
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