Things we believed during the Cold War that ended up being wrong

Hear that? That's the sound of future generations guffawing into their history books. Despite the huge popularity of Fukuyama's essay and 1992 book, recent events have proved that, far from "winning" anything, Western liberal democracy appears to be in crisis. The Atlantic called this as early as 2014. Flash forward to 2017, and everyone can see it. Voters in the West are exchanging free trade for nationalist, isolationist movements. Putin's Russia is desperate to restart the Cold War. A theocratic caliphate managed to take over an area the size of Belgium in the Middle East by espousing a philosophy more medieval in outlook than actual medieval philosophers. In Asia, China seems poised to become the next superpower by mixing a hybrid capitalist-Communist system with really solid PR. Ever onward we go.