Synopses & Reviews
Globalization began in earnest in the 1990s with the end of the Cold War. It accelerated dramatically when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Buy the time of the financial crisis of 2010 the world looked for financial stability not to the US or Europe but to China, which by then owned most of those countries' debt. It has been a remarkable, and remarkably quick transformation.
But global politics has not followed global economics. Global political structures seem to belong to the 1950s, an era in which Western dominance was presumed and Asia almost entirely absent. The US and Europe have a majority of votes at the International Monetary Fund, which is how a disgraced French president of the fund was succeeded not by a Mexican or Indonesian, but by a compatriot Frenchwoman. The President of the World Bank is traditionally an American. Why? In G8, and even G20 meetings, the West usually has a majority of voting members. Why?
Mahbubani shows that in global institution after global institution power is skewed in favor of the West, and argues that it is no longer just or sustainable. Moreover, he sees the main risks to the globe in the twenty-first century in the unresolved contradictions between the need for a one-world view and the ever more local, and locally shrill politics of national self-interest. There are the grounds for disunity, incomprehension and even disaster.
Review
Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World"Kishore Mahbubani has done it again. He has written a book that is provocative, engaging, and always intelligent. He brings a crucial perspective to bear on global affairs, rooted in the rise of Asia but with an understanding of Europe and America as well. Rudyard Kipling said, ‘East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.’ But they do in this book."
Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General
“In exploring the tensions that arise as our global community draws ever closer together, Kishore Mahbubani provides a compelling reminder that humanity is strongest when we work together for the benefit of all.”
Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business and Co-founder and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics
“While I remain pessimistic for the global economy in the near-term, I share Kishore Mahbubani’s long-term optimism for our world, including the emerging powers like China and India. The world order must now reinvent itself to accommodate these powers. Mahbubani’s timely and brilliant book explains well both the challenges to our global order and the wise solutions that are at hand. We can create a better world. Mahbubani’s book explains how. I strongly commend it.”
Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University, Harvard Kennedy School
“Most of the great errors in foreign policy and diplomacy come from a failure to understand the perspective of other nations. And this is a besetting problem for superpowers like the United States. That is why whether they like it or not, whether they agree or disagree, it so important that Western and especially American policymakers read this important book presenting a perspective on the global trends that is very different from their own.”
Joseph S. Nye, Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard University, and author of The Future of Power
“Kishore Mahbubani is a thoughtful critic of the West and this book is full of provocations; some right, some wrong, but never boring. Above all, he seeks ways to reconcile the 12 per cent of the world’s population who live in the West with the vast majority who do not. The result is a good and important read.”
Raghuram Rajan, Professor, University of Chicago Booth School
“Few today know Asia as well as Kishore Mahbubani, and even fewer combine it with a deep understanding of the West’s strengths and frailties. In The Great Convergence, Mahbubani offers a balanced but profoundly disturbing analysis of the political challenges that face our modern, increasingly interdependent, world. His proposals on how to fix the outdated system of global governance are both refreshingly novel and eminently practical. A truly stimulating read!”
Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organization
"Thought provoking, sharp and full of wisdom as usual, this new book by Kishore Mahbubani not only offers in-depth analysis of world challenges today, but also offered fresh ideas on how to improve global order for the 21st century. A must read for those who are interested in power politics and the future of global governance."Christian Science Monitor“A world adrift desperately needs global thinkers, most of all from Asia. Kishore Mahbubani fits the bill with this signal work at this critical time.”
Foreign Affairs“[An] eloquent and searching portrait of today’s transforming global order.”
Financial Times“[Mahbubani’s] thesis is a welcome counterweight to the more familiar gloom of political scientists. The book is rich in insight into the hurdles and pitfalls that stand in the way of international co-operation. It takes a hard-headed look at the dynamics of China’s rise: the threat of conflict with a US reinvented as a Pacific power, the dangerous tensions between China and India, and the west’s troubled relationship with Islam among them. But the central argument is compelling…. What is clear, though, is that west and east have still to grasp the paradox deftly illuminated by Mahbubani’s call for global governance. To retain real sovereignty over their national affairs, leaders will have to share it internationally.”
Wall Street Journal“We all know how dismal the state of the world can often seem. We can be grateful, then, for Kishore Mahbubani's The Great Convergence, a sweeping survey that proves to be, in large measure, a counterweight to global gloom and doom. Mr. Mahbubani is a big-picture writer and thinker, a Thomas Friedman with a strong Asian perspective.… [He] has good questions for Americans.”
Synopsis
An influential policy thinker and "muse of the Asian Century"* illuminates the contours of our new global civilization, and shows why power must shift to reflect the new reality
(*Foreign Policy)
Synopsis
The twenty-first century has seen a rise in the global middle class that brings an unprecedented convergence of interests and perceptions, cultures and values. Kishore Mahbubani is optimistic. We are creating a new global civilization. Eighty-eight percent of the world's population outside the West is rising to Western living standards, and sharing Western aspirations. Yet Mahbubani, one of the most perceptive global commentators, also warns that a new global order needs new policies and attitudes.
Policymakers all over the world must change their preconceptions and accept that we live in one world. National interests must be balanced with global interests. Power must be shared. The U.S. and Europe must cede some power. China and India, Africa and the Islamic world must be integrated. Mahbubani urges that only through these actions can we create a world that converges benignly. This timely book explains how to move forward and confront many pressing global challenges.
Synopsis
In this visionary roadmap to the twenty-first-century, Kishore Mahbubani prescribes solutions for improving global institutional order. He diagnoses seven geopolitical fault lines most in need of serious reform. But his message remains optimistic: despite the archaic geopolitical contours that try to shackle us today, our world has seen more positive change in the past thirty years than in the previous three hundred.
About the Author
Kishore Mahbubani is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. With the Singapore Foreign Service from 1971 to 2004, he had postings in Cambodia (where he served during the war in 1973-74), Malaysia, Washington DC and New York, where he served two stints as Singapores Ambassador to the UN and as President of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. He serves on Boards and Councils of several institutions in Singapore, Europe and North America, including the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Council, the Asia Society's International Council, the Yale President's Council on International Activities (PCIA), and the Singapore-China Foundation - Scholarship Committee.articles have appeared in a wide range of journals and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Quarterly, Survival, American Interest, the National Interest, Time, Newsweek and New York Times. He has also been profiled in the Economist and in Time Magazine. Prof Mahbubani was also listed as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy in November 2011.