Few thinkers have had as deep an influence on the direction of modern social, political and economic thought, and of public policy, both domestic and international, as Francis Fukuyama. He has worked at several prominent think tanks and public policy organizations, has served the U.S. State Department, and is a 2002 appointee to the President's Council on Bioethics. In his recent book, Our Posthuman Future, Fukuyama explores the social and political implications of the biotech revolution now under way and proposes a public policy position that protects our traditional understanding of human nature from genetic manipulation.

The author of several significant books, Francis Fukuyama is the Bernard Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University. Professor Fukuyama has written extensively on democratization and international political economy. He has focused in recent years on the roles of culture and social capital in modern economic life and on the social consequences of the transition to an information economy.

In his latest book, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, Professor Fukuyama declares an end to the era of shrinking government, privatization and other legacies of the Reagan/Thatcher administrations. In his landmark book, The End of History and The Last Man, Fukuyama speculated that liberal democracy may constitute the "end point of mankind's ideological evolution" and hence the "final form of human government." The End of History has appeared in over twenty foreign editions and made the bestseller lists in the United States, France, Japan and Chile.

Professor Fukuyama has twice served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State. He has served on the advisory boards of the National Endowment for Democracy, The National Interest, Journal of Democracy and the New America Foundation.

NOTE: Bio is as it appeared in the Forum program from December 3, 2004.