Francis Fukuyama in 1989 declared 'The end of history' claiming that with the fall of world communism and the almost universal acceptance of liberal democracy, that man had finally found the ultimate solution. As time goes by this view is being increasingly questioned, but there is no doubt that liberal democracy is currently the most favoured approach throughout the world to the problem of government.

But liberal democracy is a word used all to easily to present a kind of utopian vision, without always questioning its fundamental tenants, or even defining it properly. To do this we must look at the assumptions it makes, and to see if it does indeed represent 'the end of history' as Fukuyama suggested, we must look at its aims and see if and to what extent it has achieved them.

I intend to work through the basic assumptions that liberal democracy is based on, covering some of the arguments that exist about them and then to go on to show how there are as ma

Along with this concept of rights goes the idea of a 'limited state', liberalism separates life into both political and personal spheres, liberal democracy assumes that the state should interfere as little as possible within the personal sphere of an individual so as to endow them with as much freedom as possible to carry on their life in the way in which they want to do it, exerting their influence in their own section of 'civil society' free from unwanted interference by the state (but restrained enough not to interfere with the freedom of others). The assumption of a limited state however is not just based on liberal notions of freedom but is also necessary from a practical point of view, in that it is necessary for individuals to lead different lives with different values and opinions in order to avoid being swallowed up in an all-pervading opinion that the omnipresence of the state in the personal sphere might bring. i.e.. there must be some 'breathing-space' for individuals so that they can manoeuvre against the wishes of the state.

Underpinning all of the preceding assumptions is the inevitable presence of capitalism. Economic freedom is a necessity for democracy. This assumption is justified by David Beetham who puts forward several arguments, the first is that a state that controls the means of production can deny resources and even livelihood to its opponents, the second is socialism's tendency toward single party rule. Another is the fact that the resulting bureaucracy from the necessary administrative planning, would become out of control and stifle initiative. The marketplace, he claims, is far more democratic as it allows maximum choice and power to the consumer and collective choices necessarily disregard minority preferences. He also argues that capitalism guarantees the separation of power between the economic and political spheres.

Another major assumption of liberal democracy is that of popular participation, the extent to which all are or should be included in this and to how great a degree is a matter for debate, it is sufficient to say at the moment that there is an assumption of majority participation - usually all adults of sound mind and that each person has an equal say, usually one person - one vote. Because of the huge numbers involved popular participation is normally carried out through differing forms of representation i.e.. people elect a representative to make decisions for them. The two main forms of representation are 'first past the post' and 'proportional representation'. There is also the idea of competition. Liberal democracy invariable assumes at least two separate parties (although there are usually more, especially un

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Approximate Word count = 1808
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)