Bell Tolls for Francis Fukuyama

Ideas about what it means to be modern are soon dated. Not so long ago theories were in vogue claiming that a “scientific-technical revolution” was under way that would lead to a single type of government spreading throughout the world. Originally promoted by Daniel Bell in the 1950s, the theory of convergence suggested that the Soviet Union would evolve to become like the advanced industrial societies of the West. The idea was given a new lease of life during the Gorbachev era, when the long-awaited convergence seemed about to occur. In fact, as is now known and some suspected at the time, the Soviet Union was not evolving toward any kind of Western-style modernity. Lacking internal legitimacy, the Soviet state could not reform itself, and instead it collapsed. After a period of chaos a new system of government did emerge, but it was a hypermodern version of despotism rather than a modern democratic state. The convergence with the West that Bell and others believed was under way has not happened, and there is nothing to suggest that it will happen.