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Abstract
Francis Fukuyama (... * ...), the famous American philosopher and political scientist, visited the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau (CCTB) in December 2010. He gave a speech on the Forum of CCTB in which he interpreted in detail his ideas about the financial crisis and recent development of Capitalism. After the forum, he was interviewed by the journal of Marxism and Reality, and had a thorough talk on the topic of "Democracy, Globalization and the Future of History". Professor Fukuyama answered the questions raised by the scholars in CCTB systematically. The following is the content of the dialogue.
Keywords: Francis Fukuyama, democracy, globalization, history
JEL classification: B14, H11 , N35, Z13
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
1. Communal Culture and Political Trust
Li Yitian: Hello, Professor Fukuyama! Welcome to CCTB and thank you for communicating with us. We know you have been interviewed in this way for many times and people often asked "big questions" to you. Nevertheless, I hope to begin our dialogue from some "small questions". Firstly, as a Japanese descendant born in the United States, why did you choose to be a scholar in humanities? Are there some influences from your family?
Fukuyama: Well, first of all, there are a lot of academics in my family. My grandfather on my mother's side was actually a very palmary economist in Japan. He in his generation went to study in Germany before the First World War. He helped found the economic department in Kyoto University and he was the President of Osaka Municipal University. Throughout his life he had written something like 50 books. It is interesting to visit your library for works on Marxism. My grandfather actually requested books from the library of the German sociologist Werner Sombart and brought the books back to Japan with him. I inherited from him the first edition of Karl Marx's Das Kapital. Also, my father was an academic. He was a sociologist. He worked at Pennsylvania State University. So it is natural for me to be a scholar.
Li Yitian: In your academic career, who are the most important persons to you? If you like, please name one historical figure and a contemporary thinker.
Fukuyama: Well, there were three people who were probably...