This was the era of Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History?,” the 1989 National Interest essay that was widely misread as a statement of naive, everything-is-for-the-best-in-the-best-of-all-possible-worlds good cheer. Liberal democracy is victorious, sooner or later everyone will want it, and no special effort is required to promote it; just be patient, and the beneficial effects of trade and globalization will work their magic. Fukuyama’s actual argument was more subtle than that, but the simplified version became popular because people wanted it to be true.
