The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) invites the Stanford community to a book talk with Francis Fukuyama in celebration of his new book, In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir, which traces his own intellectual and personal journey against the backdrop of the last fifty years of global political history.

Fukuyama's work has shaped how a generation of scholars, students, and policymakers think about the trajectory of democratic governance, from The End of History and the Last Man through The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay. In this memoir, he turns that same analytical lens on himself, reflecting on how his thinking about liberalism, state-building, and democratic decay has evolved alongside the events he lived through and helped interpret. Fukuyama's book offers a rare firsthand account of his research, reflection and understanding of the crisis of liberal democracy in our current political climate.

Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and former Mosbacher Director of CDDRL, will be joined by Kathryn Stoner, current Mosbacher Director of CDDRL, for a wide-ranging conversation about the memoir, his career, and what the last half-century of political change means for the future of democracy. The conversation will be followed by a brief audience Q&A.

This event continues CDDRL's tradition of bringing leading voices in democracy and development scholarship into direct dialogue with the Stanford community, and is open to faculty, students, and members of the public with an interest in comparative politics, democratic governance, and global affairs. A book signing and reception will follow the talk, offering attendees the opportunity to purchase signed copies of the memoir.