The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East (Hardcover)

by Kishore Mahbubani (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, Cold War, World Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"[Mahbubani] makes powerful arguments that will be at the center of global politics and economics well into this century." -- Newsweek International, February 23, 2008

Product Description
One of Asia's leading intellectuals illuminates what will be on the agenda as Western domination ends and the Asian renaissance impacts world politics, markets, and history.

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 Tehran to Tokyo.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1 edition (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586484664
• ISBN-13: 978-1586484668
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #178,900 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Big picture by a smooth talker; valuable, March 17, 2008

By	From middle America. "Trying to understand." (Northern California) - See all my reviews

I like this book. It is stimulating and relevant. Also, his perspective is especially valuable for Americans, who understand very little about Asia (or Africa or Latin America - areas that this author calls "the Rest," as opposed to N. America/Europe as "the West").

Having praised this book, I now want to explain what it is and is not. The author is making a case (and a good one), but as with all such "big thinkers" glossing over much in his search for generalizations.
Indeed, his approach is captured at the very outset, under "Acknowledgements," when he thanks his main research assistant who, with his argument in mind, would "find the right statistics and anecdotes to bolster many of the points I made." Not social science, but certain the way most wide-ranging policy makers and analysts operate. (I personally have performed such functions for policy-makers.)

His basic theme - other than the rise of Asia - is that free-enterprise-based economic growth (or "development" if you prefer) produces a vital middle class. This well-educated and affluent sector in turn changes the tenor of life in a society, bringing not only more economic progress but more competent government that serves all (or most) sectors of society.

As usual with such books (and thinkers) many of the finer points and issues are glossed over in the narrative. For example, in his zeal for free enterpise (laissez faire economics) he skirts the positive and sometimes absolutely necessary functions of regulation by public agencies. He also is weak on the shortcomings of so-called "meritocracy," for example, its tendency to pass inherited privileges and skills through unequal access to quality education and career contacts.

Limitations notwithstanding, among his arguments and anecdotes given to bolster the case are important points that Western (US and European) audiences need to hear. For example, on pp. 85-86 he discusses the rule of law and compares patterns in Asia with the West.

My own inclination is toward books by specialists. However, now and again, and especially on topics as important as our understanding of and relations with Asia and "the Rest", "big thinkers" provide me with valuable insights and perhaps refresh understandings that I had decades ago but blurred with age and other experiences.

I highly recommend this book. I lament that many of my conservative friends won't even consider learning something by reading it, and that many of my more liberal friends won't read it because they think that they "already know these issues and points."

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hail the March to Modernity!, May 23, 2008

By	H. Schneider "Hermit" (window seat) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

First I noticed the controversy about this book in Hard Talk on BBC, where the host and the author did some very unsatisfactory pirouettes around the contentious issues, which are related to the Western reservations about current Asian progress. Then I read an even worse interview in Der Spiegel, where the interviewers excelled in stupidity while the author excelled in stubbornness.
Consequently I had to pick up the book and read it. KM expects to provoke 'us' Westerners, but he asks some pundits to write blurbs, which Summers and Zbig and others did.
KM's thesis is this: Asia rises, and that is good for the world. The Western leaders have trouble in adjusting their mental maps, which are trapped in the past. Asia has benefitted from the world system as established after WW2 and has no interest in endangering it. The current wave of optimism will enter West Asia as well and Pakistan, Iran and others will want to have the same progress as China and India etc...
The March to Modernity is good for all, and it is not just material, rather the escape from poverty has far reaching immaterial value for the masses of Asia.
In short, KM is a 'hopeless' optimist, and I do hope that his victorious scenario wins. My biggest doubts are over the Islamic world's ability to join the trend. Maybe KM knows better. I do hope so.
One surprise for me was that KM steps away from the old litany of Lee Kuan Yew and others, i.e. that Asian economic success is due to traditonal Confucian values. In the contrary, KM argues that China, India, and the others, are following Japan in adopting the '7 pillars' that were the basis of the West's surge forward some centuries ago. These 7 pillars are: 1. free economy (expect Adam Smith in the Asian pantheon of the future!), 2.science (enormous push forward; quote Rajiv Gandhi: better brain drain than brain in the drain); 3. meritocracy/equal opportunity, a trend which requires overcoming huge traditional obstacles, but which is clearly on the way; 4.pragmatism: possibly a euphemism for copying; 5.a culture of peace (maybe hard to believe for many in the West); 6. the rule of law: far from being an attained target so far; 7.education.
If KM is right, the adoption of Western values is going far beyond copying Gucci bags and Lacoste shirts. In that sense I would'nt be surprised if he got as much headwind in Asia as in the West.
The headwind in the West comes from his criticism of the exportation of democracy into nations that are not ready for it. And of course from his criticism of the way the West dominates the international institutions and applies double standards.
Why are we not happy with the Asians following our example? Because it means loss of power, plain and simple.
Can't say that I don't see his point. Equally I think he is right in blaming the current Western leadership for gross incompetence in critical issues such as Middle East policy (the Iraq invasion as the single worst case of bad judgment and terrible implementation), free trade, nuclear non-proliferation, global warming...
Incidentally, KM points out, at the time when Giordano Bruno was burned for heresy in Rome, the Muslim emperor Akbar the Great pronounced principles of a secular government in India. So much for Western conceipt.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent set of observations concerning global change, March 29, 2008

By	E. W. Lewis "ewlewis_bg" (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent book with a considerable set of observations concerning the shifts occurring in the global power equation. It is both complementary of and critical of Western Civilization. It gives credit where credit is due: Western Civilization established a set of cultural principles which are generally applicable to all of humankind: democracy, the rule of law, the intellectual gift of the Enlightenment.

Westerna Civilization is, however, in the process of weakening itself. It errs significantly when it deviates from those principals. The United States is particularly prone to embrace ideology (be it political or moralistic) when operating on the world stage. This approach was doomed to failure in the past and is doomed to failure in the present. One does not force democracy down the throats of people at the barrel of a gun. One does not torture people in hidden prisons. One does not make friends and influence people in a global village by playing the bully.

Essentially the world is filled with highly intelligent and hardworking people. They may not want to be fully Westernized but they certainly want to be "Modernized." How much they adopt the principles of democracy should be up to them. Not all societies are developed to a level where they can easily embrace Western views of democracy. They will, however, become more progressive.

The are some weaknesses in the book. The author is extremely concerned about the rise of protectionism particularly in America. This makes sense since the US provides the rest of the world with 100s of billions of dollars a year of its wealth. This is ultimately hurtful to the American form of Western Civilization. Diminishing the wealth base of the United States cannot continue to be the sole source of growth for Asian economies. The author does not present any recommendations as to how to deal with this form of unsustainable economics.