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[ 183 ] policymaker’s library • select books published in 2008 The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East Kishore Mahbubani New York: PublicAffairs, 2008 • 336 pp. 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. ...

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