Francis Fukuyama, one of the world’s most prominent experts on democracy, development, and governance is joining Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) as the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, effective July 2010.  He will reside in FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and fully engage in the center’s research, teaching, and policy missions, CDDRL Director Larry Diamond has announced.

Currently, Fukuyama is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, and director of the International Development Program at SAIS.  He is also chairman of the editorial board of a bi-partisan foreign policy magazine, The American Interest.

“We are thrilled that Frank is joining CDDRL and our quest to understand how countries advance politically and economically and the role of governance in these interrelated challenges,” said Diamond. “His path-breaking work on democracy, governance, and state building, his probing intellect, and his passionate commitment to advance theoretical and practical understanding of development – in all its dimensions – will be wonderful assets to our center and students, to the Freeman Spogli Institute, and to Stanford University.”

Fukuyama has written widely on factors facilitating and impeding political and economic development, sound governance, and prosperity. His best-known book, The End of History and the Last Man (Free Press, 1992) made the bestseller lists in the United States, France, Japan, and Italy and was awarded the Los Angeles Times’ Book Critics Award and the Premio Capri for the Italian edition.  Fukuyama is also the author of America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy (2006), State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century (2004), Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (2002), The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order (1999) and Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (1995).

“We are thrilled to welcome Frank Fukuyama at this dynamic time in FSI’s growth and development,” said FSI Director Coit Blacker. “His exemplary scholarship, research, and teaching, and his dedication to the expansion of democracy and good governance, are an inspiration to Stanford faculty and students, and to current and aspiring leaders in transitioning countries the world over.”

Dr. Fukuyama served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-2005. He holds an honorary doctorate from Connecticut College, Doane College, and Doshisha University (Japan). He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rand Corporation, of the Board of Governors of the Pardee Rand Graduate School, and of the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy.  He also sits on the editorial or advisory boards of the Journal of Democracy, the Inter-American Dialogue, the New American Foundation, Evolutionary Psychology, and FINCA International, which provides microcredit to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs.

Fukuyama received a BA in classics from Cornell University and a PhD in political science from Harvard. He was a member of the political science department of the Rand Corporation in 1979-80, and again from 1983 to 1989 and in 1995-96. In 1981-82 and again in 1989, Fukuyama was a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State, specializing first in Middle East affairs and then as Deputy Director for European political-military affairs. In 1981-82, he also served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Egyptian-Israeli talks on Palestinian autonomy. From 1996-2000, Fukuyama was the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University.

Fukuyama will join the Stanford faculty in July of 2010.