'Democratic vanguardism': Francis Fukuyama and the Bush Doctrine

American president George W. Bush was given a number of unflattering names during his eight years in office. Many journalists and figures of popular culture suggested that the president was lacking in intellectual capacity. Among students of American history and foreign relations, phrases such as 'reckless', 'radical' and 'utopian' found surprisingly common currency. But one of the most peculiar terms attached to President Bush was the word 'Leninist'. On the face of it, this designation seemed incongruous: surely the forty-third president of the United States had no sympathies for Bolshevism. A conservative Republican, Bush's political priorities lay in strong national defence, faith-based charities and educational reforms.