The “end of history” moment produced civilizational despair rather than triumph.
Evidence
At the triumphal “end of history” in the West, most have ceased to believe in the human capacity to craft and sustain a world that is humane, free, sustainable, and, above all, modestly under human control. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 435
Categorization
- XREF: Reverses Fukuyama’s ‘end of history’ thesis — connects to the reader’s political theory knowledge and to earlier chapters on how neoliberalism hollowed out homo politicus. — connects to: Civilizations that believe their history has ended are about to decline; End-of-epoch crisis feeling was endemic to modernism, not postmodernism. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 62; Winning the Cold War left the West exhausted rather than triumphant — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 221 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Civilizations that believe their history has ended are about to decline
#qualifies(0.85) - Winning the Cold War left the West exhausted rather than triumphant
#expands(0.80) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 221 - End-of-epoch crisis feeling was endemic to modernism, not postmodernism.
#contradicts(0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 62 - Decisive historical actions carry an irreducibly hopeless subjective aspect at the moment they occur.
#expands(0.72) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1204