Kishore’s World

This critique of the writings of Singaporean analyst Kishore Mahbubani argues that he reduces diversity and complexity to crude either-or stereotypes, as in his master narrative pitting “the West” against “the Rest.” In accusing “the Western mind” of being able to think only in black-and-white terms, he contradicts his own Manichean method. His prejudice against “the West” leads him to patronize Aung San Suu Kyi while distorting and deriding her motives as insufficiently pro-Asian. He falsely suggests that the people of China are happily enjoying good governance. And the great global “convergence” of countries and peoples that he claims to have discovered is incoherent.