2011 Yates Lecture: Francis Fukuyama
"What is Political Development?"
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About The Speaker
Internationally known political economist Francis Fukuyama will lecture on themes from his forthcoming book, The Origins of Political Order, which traces the history of political development from pre-history through the eighteenth century. The subject of a recent review article in the New York Times, Dr. Fukuyama’s book is already causing a “considerable stir” among academics, being hailed as a “new classic” by some.
Dr. Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, has written widely on issues relating to questions concerning democratization and international political economy. His book, The End of History and the Last Man, was published by Free Press in 1992 and has appeared in over twenty foreign editions. His most recent books are America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy, and Falling Behind: Explaining the Development Gap between Latin America and the United States.
In addition to his work as an academic and scholar, Dr. Fukuyama has held a number of influential positions in the public sector. 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 served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-2004.
Dr. Fukuyama is frequent consultant to the World Bank, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, and a non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
