The new Asian hemisphere
19 mei 2008
The book describes why Asia is rising now, how it will alter the world, and why the West, even though it should celebrate Asia’s rise, will have great difficulties adjusting to these changes. Mahbubani explains that the rise of Asia has brought more “goodness” to the world because the economic development is lifting more people out of poverty than ever before. Therfore the world will become more peaceful and stable. While the West should celebrate this, it seems to be losing its optimism. It is trapped in the past, it holds on to an international governance and institutions that preserve its own interest, but is not a democratic reflection of the worlds’ population. The universalization of the Western dream is within reach (which does NOT make everybody in the world Westerners). But because of the way the West has gone from being competent to incompetent in handling key global challenges (including global warming), it is far from sure that the desired “March to Modernity” will happen. Less attractive scenarios could also materialise.
The book is a good read and offers an insightful perspective. I recognise the moodshift of the West that Mahbuhani is describing. I have described the differences in the West and the East as the economies of fear and hope. I therefore fully support the goal of the book to restore Western optimism about the future of the world.
Moreover his comments on the iconisation of Western values and the inconsistency of Western countries in promoting these, can open the eyes of many.
To me the need to get this done is so obvious that I do not understand why the writer says he received the advice from some friends not to publish the book. They apperently worried about the fact that the book “could alienate a significant audience, especially in the West.” Eventhough one has not to agree with everything he says, I don’t belief this worry is justified. But even if it is, this is also fine because the debate about Western moodswings and views on global governance should truly accelerate.
One critical remark I would like to make is the following. Mahbuhani quotes Belgian foreign minister Willy Claes who said that with the end of the Cold War, there were only two super powers left in the world; The US and the EU. The point the writer wants to make, and rightly so, is that Claes overlooked the developments in the East. However, I wonder whether Mahbubani isn’t making a similar mistake by hardly refering to Brazil in this respect, nor to Africa. The new global order will be more than an East-West story: South America and Africa will deserve their own firm position.
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Wouter Scheepens, 22 mei 2008 17:32
George, it is not so much being a sleep about the economic giants, but about the way "the East" perceives Western values. Concidentilly Mahbubani wrote an essay in the today's FT ("Europe is a geopolitical dwarf"). In that he s
Good recommendation, allthough I do not think that this is really out of the box. Tata has already taken over many companies in the West (Corus, Jaguar) and the PR of China (sovereign wealth) has invested billions of dollars in US financial institutions a