ABSTRACT
When communism crumbled in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe early in the 1990s, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama declared that the world was at “the end of history.” By that he meant that liberal democracy has finally won over all rival political philosophies and further developments in political practice would be like tinkering around the edges, as it were. But setbacks in democratization, along with the Islamist challenge, soon deemed that expectation. Even then, the overall trajectory remains in the direction of convergence. People all over the world are demanding greater liberties, including the right to choose who governs them. Even young Muslims are beginning to reject the undue constraints, much as the youth in communist China. However, the notion that democracy is Western hinders this convergence. Nations want transformation, but not if that means becoming other people.
