In the wake of the Cold war Francis Fukuyama portrayed the “last man” as free but devoid of ambitions, polite but unheroic, somebody castrated by the satisfaction of his desires but a very agreeable fellow. He is married to democracy, but we suspect no more in love with it. The “last man” of this lecture is a different one. He has arrived when history has returned. He is anxious and mistrustful. He is overtaken by demographic anxiety. He thinks he lives in the dregs of time. He tends to believe that the next elections should be the last elections.
Why is he so terrified. And where he comes from? And what can we expect from him? And how will he change our idea of democracy?