Pablo Hansen - i6281332 Contemporary World History Exam 15/10/2021

Essay Question no.1

“Choose two linear theories of history that have been discussed in the course
and, in addition to briefly explaining them and their historical accuracy and/or
impact on historical events, provide an evaluation of the validity of linear
theories in general.”

Out of the many theories of History that exist, two theories stand out of the rest, not
only because they present History as linear and progressive, but also because they are
opposite to each other.

The first of these theories is the Marxist dialectic, developed by Karl Marx in the 19th
century. In this theory, Marx suggests that the history of the world has always been a history
of the fight between lower classes against upper classes. In his opinion, the end of history
would be the day where the world would be left with no more class differences between the
peoples of the world, alongside Marx’s ideas of economics, this theory would serve as one of
the main tenets of Communism.This theory can be said to have lost much relevance today.
Indeed, in 2021, only a handful of states claim to base their ideology on Marxism. The largest
communist state on earth, the Soviet Union, also collapsed in the early 1990s, after the last
leader of the country Mikhail Gorbachev tried to implement more liberal reforms, which
would eventually make the entire country collapse (Best et al., 2015).

The second linear theory of History would be that of the American political scientist
Henry Fukuyama. Right after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, following the collapse of
the Soviet Union, Fukuyama argued that the liberal state was to be the end of History. In
retrospect, his claims could be more or less understandable due to the fact that the USA and
the ideology of liberalism was at the summit of its power. But when looking at the world
today, one realises that this theory didn’t turn out to be true, at all. In fact, current political
developments tend to show the opposite. The rise of illiberal and dictatorial states has risen
since the 1990s. In Europe, many Eastern European countries are limiting the Rule of Law in
their countries, and following policies closer to Populism. And most importantly, the
authoritarian People’s Republic of China has risen to become the second largest economy in
the world, involving itself in every continent to provide aid, and as of now, trying to recreate a
modernised version of the Silk World across Africa, Asia and Europe.
Pablo Hansen - i6281332 Contemporary World History Exam 15/10/2021

Thus, the validity of these theories has been put to question. One could say that in
scientific terms, these historical theories are often fallacious, as it is not possible to refute their
claims on where History will go. Furthermore, the renowned philosopher Karl Popper
claimed that these theories are not possible because, even though they appear to be grounded
with scientific evidence, the domain they study is itself not scientific to begin with
(experimental sciences are closed systems, History isn’t) (Newall).