Francis Fukuyama wonders if history has restarted again, after famously having declared an end of history. “The ‘end of history’ hypothesis was about the process of modernisation. Progressive intellectuals around the world spent much of the last century and a half believing that historical progress would result in an evolution of modern societies toward socialism. The process of modernisation was, moreover, a universal one that would sooner or later drag all societies in its train. Understood in this fashion, September 11 represents a real challenge.”