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Francis
Fukuyama in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia
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by George Markoff
Recently I had a chance to attend an open lecture of the world renowned political theoretician, Francis Fukuyama, who, as a member of a delegation from Stanford University, gave a number of public lectures in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on the topic of the future of democracy in the 21st century.
Being a citizen of a pro-Western democratic country like Georgia, it was not a surprise to discover that his public lectures were hosted by the country’s Neo-Liberal think-tanks such as Ilia and Free Universities, which promote influential thinkers and activists, who used to back the former ruling National Movement Party’s neoliberal reforms, and which oppose the current Georgian Dream coalition government. Given the fact that the majority of the Georgian, pro-Western intellectual elite support National Movement’s value system, the visit of Fukuyama presented an opportunity for this camp to reaffirm their political influence and once again prove to the Georgian public, which is largely hostile toward them, that their worldview retains credibility and competitiveness.
