[ad_1]

But people in China were wary about being too excited over the conclusions from Francis Fukuyama.

Francis Fukuyama, the academic who famously predicted Western democracy to be the final form of governance, recently published an essay titled “America: the failed state” in British magazine Prospect.

Fukuyama laid out his opinions that with “elite capture and vetocracy,” the making of President-elect Donald Trump could — in the worst-case scenario — lead to “the US giving up entirely on global leadership, and the unravelling of the liberal world order it has done much to build since the 1950s.”

Eric Feferberg / AFP / Getty Images

With its catchy, assertive headline, the academic essay went viral in China — it ranked among top 10 searched terms on Weibo as of early evening Tuesday, together with other terms such as “bank mistakenly transferred 1.2 billion” and “fatty who lost virginity.”

Weibo

In the one-party state whose rise has largely defied Fukuyama’s predictions, almost a dozen Chinese media outlets introduced the essay to their large Weibo followings nearly simultaneously on Tuesday.

Shanghai-based state-funded news website The Paper even translated the whole article and people couldn't believe Fukuyama's conclusions.

“Can't believe the Fukuyama who worshiped Western mainstream values would write a gloomy article like this,” one user commented.

Weibo

Some, especially those who have enjoyed poking fun at the dramatic US election, are happy to hear a desperate tone from a well-known American scholar.

Weibo

---

View Entire List ›

[ad_2]