end of history

English

Etymology

Coined by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and popularized by Francis Fukuyama in his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man.

Proper noun

end of history

1. (politics) A political or philosophical concept positing that a certain political, economic or social system will be the last one that humanity develops.
   • 1992, Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man:

     I argued that liberal democracy may constitute the "end point of mankind's ideological evolution" and the "final form of history" and as such constituted the "end of history".

Related terms

• end-of-history illusion

See also

• war to end all wars