The End of the End of History

Abstract

In this essay I will first examine why the religious right constitutes a significant challenge to liberal, democracies. By the latter I do not mean the ideological sense of liberal, but pluralistic democracies that uphold human rights and values, free and fair elections, and the autonomy of institutions from religious and political interference. I will then make the theoretical distinction between a democratic republic and a sophiacratic ?republic, and argue that theocracy resembles the latter more than the former. Finally, I will note that the end of the end of democracy heralds a new ?cold war? between fundamentalist religions and liberal democracies. The use of the ?war on terror?—a phony war that should never have begun, is making converts to the cause of fundamentalist Islam, and squanders tax revenues—by the Bush administration heralds the end of the end of history and a new use of Orwellian tactics by the right. Reports of the end of history have been ?greatly exaggerated?; the religious right is a serious challenge and even a threat to liberal democracies.