Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama (1952-) is an author, government adviser, and academic in political and economic development, especially at the world level. He is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, and the director of SAIS' International Development Program. He is editor of American Interest magazine.

From 1996-2000 he was Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University.

Foreign policy
While he was a signatory of the letter from the Project for the New American Century endorsing regime change in Iraq, Fukuyama is not a mirror of neoconservatism or of the George W. Bush Administration. In 2003, he wrote The term “war on terrorism” is a misnomer, resulting in distorted ideas of the main threat facing Americans today. Terrorism is only a means to an end; in this respect, a “war on terror” makes no more sense than a war on submarines.

Fukuyama criticized the concept for being too nebulous, for creating a climate of fear. He pointed out that a "war on terrorism" would imply the U.S. has a role in Chechnya, and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Fukuyama agreed there is benefit to intelligence sharing with Israel, the actual Palestinian problem is principally Israel's local problem.

His view of development differed with that of his teacher, friend and colleague, the late Samuel Huntington, in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of Wolrd Order. Fukuyama believes " Nation-states and not civilizations remain the primary actors in world politics, and they are motivated by a host of interests and incentives that often override inherited cultural predispositions." Huntington saw a future of increasing cultural conflict. Fukuyama still saw him as the greatest political scientist of his generation.

Books
His book, The End of History and the Last Man, was published by Free Press in 1992 was a bestseller. He is also the author of Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (1995), The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order (1999), Our Posthuman Future:  Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (2002), State-Building:  Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, (2004), and America at the Crossroads:  Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy (2006).

Government and research
Dr. Fukuyama was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-2005. In 1981-82 and in 1989 he was a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State, the first time as a regular member specializing in Middle East affairs, and then as Deputy Director for European political-military affairs. In 1981-82 he was also a member of the US delegation to the Egyptian-Israeli talks on Palestinian autonomy.

He was a member of the Political Science Department of the RAND Corporation from 1979-1980, then again from 1983-89, and from 1995-96.

Education and Advisory
He received his B.A. from Cornell University in classics, and his Ph.D. from Harvard in Political Science. He holds an honorary doctorate from Connecticut College, Doane College, and Doshisha University (Japan). He on the boards of the Rand Corporation, the Pardee Rand Graduate School, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Journal of Democracy, the Inter-American Dialogue, The New America Foundation, Evolutionary Psychology, and FINCA. As an NED board member, he is responsible for oversight of the Endowment’s Latin American programs.