More than half of the world's population lives in Asia and the Middle East, and is becoming more and more alienated from America. Now a uniquely qualified Asian writer explains how this happened and what can be done After publishing articles in leading American journals for over two decades, Kishore Mahbubani was described by The Economist as "an Asian Toynbee, preoccupied with the rise and fall of civilizations". Trained in philosophy in North America and Asia, and well-experienced in realpolitik as a diplomat on the world stage, Mahbubani has unusual insight into America's ever more troubled relationship with the rest of the world. In Beyond the Age of Innocence, Mahbubani reveals to us the America that Asia and the rest of the world see. Where she was once perceived as the land of freedom and opportunity, the end of the Cold War changed this. America made a terrible mistake and began to ignore the plight of others, indifferent to the consequences of her decisions on other nations. In particular America was imprudent in her policy towards two large masses of mankind; the Chinese and Muslim populations. Guantanamo damaged her moral authority, but Abu Ghraib, paradoxically, may have demonstrated the accountability of American institutions. Still, disillusionment with America has spread to all corners. To allow any lasting gap between America and the world, Mahbubani argues, would be a colossal strategic mistake for America and a huge loss to the world. But there is still time for the US to change course, and in this thought-provoking, visionary book, Mahbubani shows how.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The author of Can Asians Think? spent several years in the U.S. as the U.N. ambassador from Singapore, gaining firsthand experience with what he dubs "the best human society ever seen in history." Yet Mahbubani also knows that much of the rest of the world doesn't see things that way, resenting the U.S. for its "betrayal" in retreating from the geopolitical scene after the end of the Cold War - and then seemingly stomping around at will. The lucid analysis of America's diminishing prestige is underscored by Mahbubani's insistence that this isn't merely a reaction to the Bush administration and its policies, but a "tectonic shift" in international perceptions. Although his suggestion that America should stop acting merely in its own short-term interests and develop a global perspective smacks of the obvious, considerations of specific tensions in Islamic and Chinese cultures are thoughtfully detailed. The emphasis on pragmatism does lead in sometimes unsettling directions: while Mahbubani lends credence to the idea that American "abandonment" of foreign concerns led to 9/11 and the Bali nightclub bombing, he also justifies the Chinese crackdown in Tiananmen Square as a political necessity. For the most part, however, he celebrates America's generosity and the beacon of hope and prosperity it can represent for millions, and would be glad to see its luster restored.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Mahbubani's provocative previous work, Can Asians Think? (2002), pressed Westerners to reexamine their ignorance of the East and earned its diplomat-scholar author comparisons to Arnold Toynbee and even Max Weber. His latest book expounds an essentially similar thesis, packaged to draw American readers to Asia by way of post-9/11 concern about the image of the U.S. abroad. The U.S. has done more good for the world than any other civilization, Mahbubani exuberates, his credibility bolstered by years spent in New York as Singapore's ambassador to the UN. But the U.S. has harmed the world, he continues, by opportunistically shirking the expectations the rest of the world hopes it will live up to, as evidenced by Afghanistan's jilted mujahadin, but especially by fickle fiscal policies toward Thailand and Indonesia during the recent Asian financial crisis. Mahbubani's obligatory discussion of the U.S and Islam is eclipsed by his astute analysis of Chinese-American relations; less alarmist than most tellers of tales of sleeping dragons, he nevertheless credits the Chinese for patiently and profitably strategizing their way through decades of American mixed messages. Pragmatic tough love for the new century. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An important book on international affairs,
This review is from: Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World (Hardcover)
Singaporean scholar and diplomat Kishore Mahbubani is a great admirer of the United States. He is also a stern critic. I think these qualities are exactly what America needs now at the time of our greatest strength. What Mahbubani wants is to gently admonish the United States for acting unilaterally and without the benefit of international law, while at the same time remind us all of America's greatness and all that America has done for the world.
He emphasizes that the US is not and has not been an ordinary superpower. Unlike other great states, it has not sought empire or the economic enslavement of the vanquished. Instead it has rebuilt the enemy, as in Germany and Japan, and as it is presumably trying to do in Iraq. These extraordinary behaviors by a nation state mark the US as an enlightened nation, a nation that knows that world stability and the economic success of other nations only contribute to stability and the good life at home. "America is...an atypical human society," he writes, "unlike any other. Until recently, it has served as a powerful beacon, pointing to a future for all of humankind. That is its essence, its real mission: to remain true to its soul and remain an extraordinary society." (p. 211) Mahbubani adds that in other parts of the world, the men who open doors for you...look down in a sort of implicit bow," but that "New York doormen never look down. They look you straight in the eye and behave as total equals... They may work...in the building" and "receive tips...but they possess not an iota of inferiority." (p. 210) He calls this "an enormous leap upwards in the human evolutionary ladder." He believes that "America has largely escaped the pernicious effects of class stratification prevalent in the rest of the world." (p. 211) His main point, however, is that America power reaches with its tentacles, both soft and hard, into every country of the world and affects everybody from the poorest to the wealthiest. Yet the only people who have any direct say in what the US does are Americans who can vote for its leadership. Consequently there is great frustration throughout the world with a power that to some extent controls them, but that they cannot control. Mahbubani believes that it is especially important that America use its military power wisely. If we do not, the rest of the world will view our "soft power" suspiciously "as an increasingly frayed velvet glove that covers a mailed fist." (p. 197) As an example of the wise use of military power, Mahbubani notes that "Global trade continues to grow steadily. Many reasons explain this: technology, open markets (an ideology spread by American influence), political stability, global trading rules (another American legacy). But one important factor that is rarely mentioned or recognized is the spread of American military power around the world. American military power keeps global sea and air routes open. Any force that tries to disrupt these routes will have to reckon with America. Since no country can, global trade has flourished." (p. 140) Consequently, Mahbubani argues, the rest of the world benefits "enormously and directly from the global American military presence, which costs American taxpayers over $400 billion a year. But other nations pay not a penny for this." (p. 141) What Mahbubani would like to see--barring a sharing of power--is a foreign policy by the US that understands the extent of its power and uses that power wisely for the benefit of all and not just for narrow, short-term American interests. He believes that what is good for the rest of the world is good the for the US. If the rest of the world suffers because of unenlightened US policy, as it sometimes has in the past, the US itself will suffer as well. He makes it clear that the neocon dream of an American Empire is a delusion based on an unrealistic understanding of both America and the modern world. He writes, "With all the military power in the world, America appears incapable of subjugating one medium-sized country in the Middle East because it is incapable of administering the kind of brutal suppression the British applied when they conquered Iraq in 1917." (p. 10) He adds on page 202, "If America cannot tolerate the sight of its soldiers abusing a few Iraqis, how can it build an empire?" Then there is the question of legitimacy. Although they have no vote on who is elected president of the United States, Mahbubani believes that the planet's 6.3 billion citizens "are the ultimate custodians of legitimacy in the international environment." (p. 186) Since most Americans believe in the rule of law and in the idea that some actions are legitimate within its scope and others not, it behooves our government to act accordingly. Mahbubani's point is that if our use of power (as in the invasion of Iraq) is not seen as legitimate, we will lose prestige and credibility in the world, and with that loss, we will abdicate moral leadership and ultimately become isolated from the rest of the world. In the "Age of Innocence" that would have been okay. China existed for centuries isolated from the rest of the world as did the US (for the most part) until the first world war. However in the modern world where everyone is so closely connected, such isolation is not possible. A note on Mahbubani's choice of title and his message: "The Age of Innocence" was before the modern age, before the globalization of the planet. There is a novel by Edith Wharton with the title The Age of Innocence published in 1920 (but set in the1870s). With every country in the world affecting not only its neighbors but countries around the globe, there can no longer be any innocence of intent in foreign affairs.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A balanced and insightful view of America,
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This review is from: Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World (Hardcover)
This is a wonderful book. Kishore has achieved a crucial balance between personal experience and general observation (I relished the journey as a reader between these poles!) and between being critical and supportive (it is unfortunate one has to be applauded for such an achievement but 'dem's the breaks' in today's polarized environment!).
Kishore's book beautifully articulates some generally-recognized dichotomies - for instance, the tension between individual American generosity and structural institutional implacability - and introduced me to welcome new insights. I was particularly taken with the notion of the ordinariness of American national interest in the context of superpower status and the structural disregard for external consequences - both critical insights for a prolegomena for any future reform of the American role in the world.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
America, there is a world out there!,
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This review is from: Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World (Hardcover)
Mr. Mahbubani's book is a valuable resource on foreign policy. He hopes the book will help "make American society aware that daily, billion of pairs of eyes are watching, studying and judging America." - xix. Mahbubani came from a poor Hindu family in Singapore and luckily got a scholarship to university. His perspective is very interesting because of his view from having been poor AND privileged. He also looks to America as a shining example in the world, but has some problems with some of our policies of the past thirty or so years.
I first saw him on "Foreign Exchange" with Fareed Zakaria and it should be noted that his style of writing is very similar to that of Zakaria and Thomas L. Friedman, both of who he quotes a great deal. The book is very strong in the beginning when he talks about how America has helped and harmed the world as well as America's relation with Islam and China. Mahbubani's chapter on China where he suggests that having China become the major dealer with Islamic countries is VERY interesting: "Even though China has a sizeable Muslim population of its own, this Muslim minority has not dictated the terms of China's engagement with the Islamic world. As a consequence, without any historical baggage (unlike, say, Islam with Christianity and the Crusades), there is no natural antipathy between Islam and China. Instead, there has long been admiration of the great Chinese civilization within the Islamic world. If China successfully modernizes, its success may have a powerful ripple effect throughout the Islamic world. Many Islamic thinkers are reluctant to use the West as a model for Islam to emulate . . . But these same thinkers would have no hesitation to use China as a positive example." - pp.125-126 Toward the end, Mahbubani starts to sound like a NY Times columnist like Kristof, Dowd or Krugman attacking (and repeating) how America has harmed the world with farm subsidies, Iraq, Kyoto and the IMF. He has lost some of his great faith in America and you can see this. One of his biggest wishes (and I am in full agreement with him) is that regular Americans need to know more about international affairs. According to Mahbubani, Americans (and even many government officials) rarely know how their actions in international affairs have ripple effects on others around the world, in many ways they never would know or realize. Many Americans have no idea how a good deal of the world holds them in contempt for things America didn't necessarily think was bad at the time, but may have turned out differently later on. This is his main point of the book: America has to implement its policy while examining ALL of the possible effects on others, because it could come back to haunt you. Sure, one policy might not be favorable to another group or groups, but you must be cautious and wise. Two movie quotes would sum up this review: Spock (from Star trek II) said, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one." And from Spiderman (and Mahbubani uses this): "With great power comes great responsibility." Overall, a recommended book on what America can do to re-shape it image in the world while also dealing with the rise of China.
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