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

[ 162 ] asia policy The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East Kishore Mahbubani New York: PublicAffairs, 2008 • 336 pp. author’s executive summary This book describes and spells out implications of the new historical era now dawning: the end of Western domination of the world and the return of Asia. main argument Asian societies are finally succeeding again because they are implementing Western best practices in many areas, from free market economics to science and technology. This rise of Asia is unstoppable, and the West has to decide whether to work with rising Asia or attempt to thwart this rise. So far, Western powers have sent mixed signals, reflecting the new geopolitical incompetence emerging in the West. policy implications • In assessing whether the rise of Asia will serve long-term Western interests, the West should understand that the new Asian powers are seeking to replicate, not dominate, the West, and that they wish to become responsible stakeholdersintheglobalorder.TheWestshouldsharepower—forexample, Asian countries should be allowed to lead the IMF and the World Bank. • The Asian march to modernity is now poised to enter West Asia. If the Islamic world also successfully modernizes, the West and Israel will be dealing with modern states. As the modernization of the Islamic world benefits Western, especially European, interests, the West should welcome the rise of Asia, instead of feeling threatened by it. • The West also needs to comprehensively re-examine its policies toward China. Instead of pushing democracy and human rights principles on to China, the West should recognize that China’s 30 year record of progressively opening up has fundamentally transformed Chinese society. Even if the West fails to readjust its policies toward China, the extraordinary geopolitical competence of Beijing is making up for the growing geopolitical incompetence of U.S. and European policymakers in their handling of Asia. [ 163 ] book reviews Old America, New Asia? Ellen L. Frost A review of Mahbubani’s New Asian Hemisphere When the eyes of the world are on President Obama, when global investors pin their shattered hopes on a U.S. economic recovery, and when U.S. military power dwarfs the combined arsenals of the next two dozen countries combined, is it worth spending time on yet another book about the rise of Asia? It is, if only to come to grips with the mindset of one of Asia’s most candid and prolific public intellectuals. Kishore Mahbubani likes to provoke people. In this forceful and clearly written book, his powers both to inspire and to irritate have found full expression. A former Singaporean diplomat and now the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, Mahbubani achieved global prominence in the 1980s as a champion of the “Asian values” thesis. Although he has put that theme aside, he continues to propound similarly broad convictions to large and evidently enthusiastic audiences. In The New Asian Hemisphere, Mahbubani draws on his personal background and his diplomatic experience to hammer his points home. And hammer he does. Those familiar with his earlier work will not be surprised to find an updated, expanded, and relabeled version of the same themes that stud virtually all of his writings, speeches, and interviews to date.1 The first such theme is that the rise of Asia is both irresistible and good for the world. Mahbubani describes an Asian “march to modernity” that draws inspiration and borrows heavily from the “the seven pillars of Western wisdom,” namely free-market economics, science and technology, meritocracy, pragmatism, a culture of peace, respect for the rule of law, and education (pp. 52–96). He documents impressive Asian gains in each of these 1 Mahbubani’s many publications include “The Dangers of Decadence: What the Rest Can Teach the West,” Foreign Affairs 72, no. 4 (September–October 1993); “The Pacific Way,” Foreign Affairs 74, no. 1 (January–February 1995); “An Asia-Pacific Consensus,” Foreign Affairs 76, no. 5 (September– October 1997); a collection of essays called Can Asians Think? (Singapore: Times Editions Ltd, 1998); “Understanding China,” Foreign Affair s 74, no. 5 (September–October 2005); Beyond the Age of Innocence (New York: PublicAffairs, 2005); “Wake...