Post-Cold War conventional wisdom held history had ended in Western victory

Evidence

A political scientist and employee of the US State Department, Francis Fukuyama, asked if we had reached the “End of History” and grounded his analysis in Hegelian philosophy and an analysis of recent events. But in the English-speaking world, more broadly, a vulgar version of teleological thinking simply assumed that things were going to work out. The West won and would continue to win because it was superior—more powerful and morally privileged. From now on, things would keep getting better (according to the standards of a liberal, capitalist democrat), and one had to simply accept the flow of history rather than fight against it. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 156

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Winning the Cold War left the West exhausted rather than triumphant — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 221; Post-Cold War events largely followed predictions derived from civilizational identity — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 80; The Cold War’s end did not make liberal democracy inevitable across civilizations — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 177 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Cold War bipolarity temporarily suppressed preexisting civilizational dynamics #complicates (0.85) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 102
• Winning the Cold War left the West exhausted rather than triumphant #complicates (0.82) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 221
• The Cold War’s end did not make liberal democracy inevitable across civilizations #qualifies (0.80) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 177
• Post-Cold War events largely followed predictions derived from civilizational identity #responds-to (0.75) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 80