The New Asian Hemisphere
The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East
For centuries, the Asians (Chinese, Indians, Muslims, and others) have been bystanders in world history. Now they are ready to become co-drivers.
Asians have finally understood, absorbed, and implemented Western best practices in many areas: from free-market economics to modern science and technology, from meritocracy to rule of law. They have also become innovative in their own way, creating new patterns of cooperation not seen in the West.
Will the West resist the rise of Asia? The good news is that Asia wants to replicate, not dominate, the West. For a happy outcome to emerge, the West must gracefully give up its domination of global institutions, from the IMF to the World Bank, from the G7 to the UN Security Council.
History teaches that tensions and conflicts are more likely when new powers emerge. This, too, may happen. But they can be avoided if the world accepts the key principles for a new global partnership spelled out in The New Asian Hemisphere.
"In The New Asian Hemisphere, Kishore Mahbubani has given us a very powerful account of the world seen through Asian eyes, and has shown the global relevance of that penetrating vision. The book is both insightful and delightfully combative as well as fun to read."
Amartya Sen Thomas
W. Lamont University Professor Harvard University
1998 Nobel Laureate in Economics
and author of The Argumentative Indian
"There is no more thoughtful observer of Asia, the United States, and their interaction than Kishore Mahbubani. Having written about Asia, then the United States he has produced a book on their interaction that should be read by anyone who hopes to or will shape US foreign policy over the next decade. And it should be read by anyone in Asia who hopes to understand or influence that policy...The rise of Asia and all that follows it will be the dominant story in history books written 300 years from now with the Cold War and rise of Islam as secondary stories."
Lawrence H Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University
Kennedy School