Skriba Andrei Sergeevich – Ph.D. in Political Sciences, Head of the Research and Training Laboratory for Political Geography and Contemporary Geopolitics, Faculty of World Economy and World Politics, National Research University «Higher School of Economics» Bodishteanu Nicole Vitalevna – Ph.D. Student, Research Assistant, International Laboratory on World Order Studies and the New Regionalism, Faculty of World Economy and World Politics, National Research University «Higher School of Economics»
Against the backdrop of the Ukrainian events, the concept of the «end of history» is discussed in the context of the prospects for the spread of liberal democratic ideology and the possibilities for ending conflicts. In the 1990s, the region of Eastern Europe, which, after the collapse of the USSR, included post-Soviet countries, became a symbol of the success of liberal democracy and the transition of international relations to the new, conflict-free state. However, if in the case of the former CMEA countries, as well as the three Baltic countries, liberal democracy was eventually institutionalized on the platforms of the EU and NATO, then in the case of the other three countries of the former USSR – Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine – such a result was not achieved. Moreover, despite long-standing attempts to reorient these countries to the liberal-democratic paths of development, all three countries still demonstrate a high level of rejection of the liberal democratic order. Considering that the author of the idea of the «end of history» F. Fukuyama has now again raised the question of the prospects for liberal democracy and the conflict-free world that it supposedly should bring, the authors of the article propose to critically evaluate the achievements of the last thirty years in this area using the example of the states of Eastern Europe with an emphasis on Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine to answer the question why the «end of history» (in all the complexity of this concept), despite the efforts made by the «collective West», has not been fully realized here so far.
«end of history», liberal democracy, Eastern Europe, conflicts, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine
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