-By: Theophilus Femi Alawonde
A group of students and lecturers of the University of Ibadan gathered on Wednesday, October 24, 2018, to review Francis Fukuyama’s book; Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. The review, which was at Room 154, Faculty of The Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, saw a panel consisting Dr Ayodele, Mr Ajayi Thomas, and Ms Abiola give their varied views on the book. Dr Afolayan came from two perspectives; one, that Fukuyama does not joke with philosophers and philosophy, and two, the way the book takes critical look into concepts and ideas becoming significant, which include dignity and human nature. Mr Thomas Ajayi, in his contributions, said Fukuyama combines theory and practice, and plays his part in the aspect of the economy. He admonished everyone to revisit the way they do things. Ms Abiola in her words, advised that in one’s search for identity, one should not compare oneself to every other person.
Matters such as the relevance of Fukuyama’s identity theory, the promotion of liberal democracy, the ways corruption can give birth to development, the concept of democracy, enlightened authoritarianism, necessity of liberal democracy in Africa, amidst others, were really discussed.
