Innovation, Participation and ‘Constructivist Society’

Abstract

When the Soviet empire fell apart, it was widely believed that it had lost the battle with the liberal democracies of the West. One of the most acclaimed books of the early 1990s used the term the ‘end of history’ (Fukuyama 1992) to underline that the victory of liberal democracy over communism was not only part of an ongoing struggle against communism, but the ultimate victory of one form of organization over all others. ‘The optimal socio-economic system’ had been defined and there was little more for history to offer in terms of better models.