Francis Fukuyama: ‘We remain at the end of history.’ ‘I remain right: modernity is a very powerful freight train that will not be derailed by recent events, however painful’.

A stream of commentators has been asserting that the tragedy of 11 September proves that I was utterly wrong to have said more than a decade ago that we had reached the end of history. The chorus began almost immediately, with George Will asserting that history had returned from vacation, and Fareed Zakaria declaring the end of the end of history.

It is, on the face of it, nonsensical and insulting to the memory of those who died on 11 September ? as well as to those who are now participating in military raids over Afghanistan ? to declare that this unprecedented attack did not rise to the level of a historical event. But the way in which I used the word “history” was different. It referred to the progress of mankind over the centuries toward modernity, which is characterised by institutions like liberal democracy and capitalism.

Independent UK