Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama

  • Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  • Director of the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy
  • Research Affiliate at The Europe Center
  • Professor by Courtesy, Department of Political Science

Encina Hall, C148
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305

Biography

Francis Fukuyama is Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a faculty member of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). He is also Director of Stanford's Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy Program, and a professor (by courtesy) of Political Science.

Dr. Fukuyama has written widely on issues in development and international politics. His 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man, has appeared in over twenty foreign editions. His most recent book,  Liberalism and Its Discontents, was published in the spring of 2022.

Francis Fukuyama received his B.A. from Cornell University in classics, and his Ph.D. from Harvard in Political Science. He was a member of the Political Science Department of the RAND Corporation and of the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State. From 1996-2000 he was Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, and from 2001-2010 he was Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-2004.  

Dr. Fukuyama holds honorary doctorates from Connecticut College, Doane College, Doshisha University (Japan), Kansai University (Japan), Aarhus University (Denmark), and the Pardee Rand Graduate School. He is a non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rand Corporation, the Board of Trustees of Freedom House, and the Board of the Volcker Alliance. He is a fellow of the National Academy for Public Administration, a member of the American Political Science Association, and of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married to Laura Holmgren and has three children.

(October 2024)

publications

Journal Articles
April 2025

Delivering for Democracy: Why Results Matter

Author(s)
Delivering for Democracy: Why Results Matter
Journal Articles
January 2025

Calibrating autonomy: How bureaucratic autonomy influences government quality in Brazil

Author(s)
Calibrating autonomy: How bureaucratic autonomy influences government quality in Brazil
Journal Articles
August 2023

In Defense of the deep state

Author(s)
In Defense of the deep state

Current research

In The News

Panel 1: Executive Power Over Agencies and Funding
News

Trump’s First 100 Days: Stanford Law Symposium Tackles Executive Power, Legal Norms, and Constitutional Questions

During the event, held at Stanford Law School, panelists, including Diego Zambrano and Francis Fukuyama, examined the constitutional questions and rule-of-law tensions sparked by the Trump administration’s expansive and boundary-testing use of executive power.
Trump’s First 100 Days: Stanford Law Symposium Tackles Executive Power, Legal Norms, and Constitutional Questions
Francis Fukuyama presented his research in a CDDRL seminar on April 3, 2025.
News

Rethinking Bureaucracy: Delegation and State Capacity in the Modern Era

Francis Fukuyama traces how scholars and policymakers have grappled with the tension between empowering bureaucracies to act effectively and ensuring they remain accountable to political leaders.
Rethinking Bureaucracy: Delegation and State Capacity in the Modern Era
Larry Diamond and Francis Fukuyama speaking at a round table in front of a wall of books on a shelf.
Commentary

CDDRL Scholars Explore Impacts of Executive Orders and Policy Changes on Global Democracy

In a new video series, Francis Fukuyama and Larry Diamond discuss how democracy-promoting programs are being eroded under the new administration.
CDDRL Scholars Explore Impacts of Executive Orders and Policy Changes on Global Democracy