A CRITIQUE OF WOMEN AND

THE EVOLUTION OF WORLD

POLITICS BY FRANCIS
FUKUYAMA

Word Count: 838

Course: POLS1006 - Introduction to International Relations: Contemporary Global Issues
 POLS1006 – Written Assignment

Fukuyama’s Women and the Evolution of World Politics observes the slow change in

feminisation of world politics over the last few decades. Nonetheless, he warrants that

masculine strategies are still critical in the international system. This paper provides a critique

on Fukuyama’s literature, his main thesis, evidence, concerns and findings.

Fukuyama central argument is that gender behaviours are biologically rooted in

humans. He utilises a sociobiological perspective to argue that a world led by women would

consist of less violence. Fukuyama has tried to convince the reader that human actions are a

result of biology and not of cultural influences. He further cites the stories of chimp behaviour

to validate his argument on “biologically based psychological differences between sexes

(Fukuyama, 1998, 26).” Additionally, the author presents an argument that males tend to

portray a tendency to be more violent and aggressive. He ascertains that male-led society tries

to seek a dominant position in the social status hierarchy and that “male tendencies to act out

aggressive fantasies toward one another can never be eliminated (Fukuyama, 1998, 35).”

According to Fukuyama, there are two increasing threats to world politics due to a more

feminised world. He points out that there will still be a divide in the world as West and East,

and that a more feminised world political platform would be more realised in the West. Even-

though the article is congenial to feminist politics, Fukuyama, being a professor of public

policy holds a very conservative view on this topic. The first threat is due to a change in

population demographics, where owing to problems of ageing, and increased participation

from women in politics, Fukuyama ascertains that future leaders of democratic states would be

females. Fukuyama believes that such future leaders would be biologically “conciliatory and

cooperative (Fukuyama, 1998, 33).” The second threat comes from biologically determined

sex difference, such as the sex-ratio in South-Asia for women being lower, meaning that the

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world of politics in East will still be handled by “young hotheaded men (Fukuyama, 1998,

38).” This will mean that democratic states of the West, led potentially by females will have

to formulates strategies against the non-Western states where politics will still be dominated

by “violent and aggressive tendencies of men (Fukuyama, 1998, 34).”

Fukuyama’s two main conclusions from the paper are that a) biology through genetic

roots offer some explanation into understanding human behaviour b) evolutionary psychology

will cause gender role differences which may change the face of world politics (as more

females in the West may lead dominant positions). He also provides some potential solutions

to these issues by stating a better understanding of “political, economic and social

systems…can mitigate the effects of man’s baser instincts (Fukuyama, 1998, 39).” However,

it is hard to completely agree with the conclusions that Fukuyama has put forward. There may

be some validity to the arguments that he presents which may be considered as a useful

reference point for future studies, but currently they seem to lack a strong evidential support.

This is primarily due to Fukuyama’s writing style which is very strong and persuasive. His

arguments hinge on his main thesis which proclaim that the way genders behave are based on

“biological determinism (Fukuyama, 1998, 31).” This itself questions the reliability and

validity of his argument substantially, as the examples given are specific to its context and

cannot be generalised. Conversely, it can be seen that Fukuyama is biased in the examples that

he provides, and that they are considered discriminatory. Fukuyama repeatedly mentions

“Mobutu, Milosevic, or Saddam (Fukuyama, 1998, 36)” as examples who possessed

“aggressive fantasies (Fukuyama, 1998, 35),” however does not cite positive examples in

history such as Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King. Therefore, his arguments can also be

seen as being very prejudiced. Finally, the given article also fails to provide any reliable

evidence such as citations or quotations to the substantial claims that Fukuyama makes.

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 Fukuyama discussions on gender-constructs are pertinent to today’s society.

Predominantly, his arguments on changes to gender-politics may incur a reciprocal shift in the

way international relations may work in the future. We currently live in a world which presents

growing concerns of gender issues in global politics. Hence, policy-makers are forced to

consider the various gender-issues which are presented in papers such as the one written by

Fukuyama. Moreover, understanding complex issues like the evolution of female politics on

the world stage may increase the odds of reaching fundamental political and economic goals

in the future. Contrariwise, it should be noted that the views presented by Fukuyama could be

classified as hyper-masculine by many policy-makers, and the lack of evidence in his assertions

may cast some doubts on the validity of his arguments. Nonetheless, the paper certainly

provides interesting constructs which may play a part in influencing prospective world politics.

However, these constructs should be investigated in further detail to provide a conclusive

stance on the relevance of Fukuyama’s assertions.

In conclusion, Fukuyama’s literature on Women and the Evolution of World Politics looks at

the slow change in feminisation of world politics. However, based on the discussion in this

paper, it is clear that Fukuyama’s main thesis is solely on biological inferences as an indicator

for gender behaviour. Even-though he provides several examples to back-up his theories, they

are not accurately cited, or are somewhat questionable. The article has interesting constructs

on gender politics which may help guide further research in this area, but such research is to

be undertaken to fully understand the validity of Fukuyama’s claims.

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Bibliography

 Fukuyama, Francis. (1998). Women and the Evolution of World Politics. Foreign
Affairs 77: pp. 24 – 40.