What if one of the greatest threats to democracy is not that people hate freedom, but that they get bored with it?
For decades, political philosopher Francis Fukuyama has been asking a question that seems more urgent now than when he first posed it: What happens when people have peace, prosperity, and security, but still find themselves longing for something more? His landmark book The End of History and the Last Man explored the human desire for recognition, greatness, and struggle—and warned that those desires could eventually threaten the very institutions that made modern life possible. Now, in his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man, Fukuyama reflects on the ideas that shaped his life, the convictions he’s reconsidered, and the political upheavals that have followed.
Russell Moore talks with Fukuyama about the surprising connections between religious faith, human nature, and the growing appeal of authoritarian politics. They discuss his family’s experience of Japanese American incarceration during World War II, his father’s work as a Protestant minister and civil rights advocate, and why some Christians have begun rejecting the religious liberty their predecessors fought to secure. They also consider why political movements increasingly promise the kind of meaning and purpose once found in religious communities, and what happens when the desire for greatness turns into a celebration of cruelty.
Along the way, the two of them explore the threats artificial intelligence poses to the dignity of work, the difference between democracy and liberal democracy, and whether Americans can recover a sense of shared purpose without manufacturing new enemies.
Watch this conversation on YouTube
Francis Fukuyama’s books
- In the Realm of the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama (new memoir and primary subject of the conversation)
- The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama
- Trust — Francis Fukuyama
- Identity — Francis Fukuyama
- The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama
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