The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East by Kishore Mahbabani - Book Report/Review Example

 The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East by Kishore Mahbabani The development of human race is deeply indebted to the continuous transformation of the same from primitiveness to modernity. Within this context, the contributions of the Western civilization to humanity, especially in the field of science and technology, are noteworthy. On the other side, most of the Asian nations were not aware of the importance of progress and hesitated to join the Western nations in the mass movement towards development. Now, the East Asian nations are aware of the importance of development and are moving fast towards progress. Thesis statement: In the work The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East, Kishore Mahbabani unearths the hidden secret behind the rapid and constant development of the West, evaluates the aspiration of the East Asian nations to attain development, foresees the future scope of shared responsibility in global matters, and put forth apt measures to minimize the scope of conflict between the same. According to the author, the most important aspect of interaction between East Asia and the West is the absorption of the key pillars of Western wisdom by the Asian nations and the implementation of the same to accelerate economic development. Besides, the Asian nations are trying to attain long long-term success which is related to material, financial and political interests within the global arena. From a different angle of view, the initiative undertaken by the East Asian nations to absorb the Western learning, wisdom, and philosophy can inculcate modernity into the East Asian context. At the same time, the absorption of modernity by the Asian nations can lead the whole world to a new world order. Dice made clear that “Proponents of what is called the New World Order believe that a global government is the next evolutionary step in civilization” (2). So, the world order in a globalized world will not be based upon a specific nation. Instead, the responsibility to sustain peace, mutual understanding and co-operation among the world nations will be shared. The responsibility to maintain global peace will not vested upon the US and the EU. Instead, the responsibility will be shared among the US, the EU, China and India. Mahbubani stated that “Instead of perceiving itself as a lonely group of responsible stakeholders, the West will be joined by billions of new responsible stakeholders” (50). In short, the global institutions and organizations like UN and its branches should be restructured to face the change in the global context. So, one can easily identify that the points of interaction between East Asia and the West according to the author are related to global governance, shared responsibility, and change in world order. Discussion: The discussion is divided into three sections: the nature of the interaction between East Asia and the West, the process of convergence and/or divergence, and the future prospects for cooperation and mutual respect. (a) The nature of the interaction between East Asia and the West According to the author, the interaction between East Asia and the West is based upon the relationship between the colonizers and the colonies. To be specific, most of the East Asian nations were under the control of the European nations. One can see that the relationship between colonizers and colonies is not based upon co-operation and mutual understanding. Mahbubani stated that “The tension between Western interests and Western values is vividly shown in the West’s attitude to the rise of Asia” (102). But some of the Asian nations like Japan were able to realize the importance of economic development and modernity. Now, the Asian nations like China and India are undergoing rapid progress. The Western nations were able to develop Western values and philosophy. According to the author, the amalgamation of certain values and philosophy helped the West to be progressive and to determine the course of the world. On the other side, most of the East Asian nations failed to adopt the Western philosophy, which is deeply rooted in equality, human rights and development in the field of science and technology. To be specific, the failure of East Asian nations to understand the essence of Western philosophy determined the nature of interaction between East Asia and the West. (b) The process of convergence (union) and/or divergence One can easily identify that the process of convergence (say, union) or divergence is related to the nature of the interaction between East Asia and the West. The process of convergence is interconnected with the idea of shared responsibility between East Asian nations and the West. To be specific, human knowledge and the axis of wealth is rapidly shifting from the West to East. The Western nations cannot ignore the importance of East Asian nations in the global context. Mahbubani stated that “In the absence of natural global leader, we will have to resort to time-tested principles to produce social and political order” (236). So, universal membership to all nations within the international organizations and institutions is important. But the Western nations, which are based on material values / interests, failed to realize the importance of the East Asian nations. According to the author, the material superiority gained by the Western nations over the East Asian nations is not constant. The Asian nations are ready to accept the Western nations as a replica of economic development and progress. Some of the unions that are formed by the Western nations (say, EU) do not aim the progress of the world nations and fail to establish regional co-operation and long term relationships. On the other side, the ASEAN, formed by the Asian nations, show rapid progress. This is important because regional co-operation initiated by the Asian nations leads to democracy and peace in the global context. (c) The future prospects for cooperation and mutual respect The future prospects for cooperation and mutual respect between East Asia and the West will be based upon the realization of the West that the East Asian nations can share the responsibility of global governance. On the other side, the global spread of terrorism, ecological problems, nuclear threats etc cannot be handled by any specific nation. The Western nations cannot ignore the change in the world order because co-operation and mutual respect can save the whole world. For instance, during disasters (say, natural or man-made), human beings discard the feeling of nationality. One cannot predict that any specific nation is safe from disasters. Instead, disasters like contagious diseases and tsunami affect the whole world without considering national boundaries. Some of the Asian nations (say, India and China) are able to withstand the after-effects of global financial crisis. On the other side, most of the Western nations are affected by the global financial crisis. In this globalized world, the notion that the whole world is against the West must be discarded because most of the world nations are in favor of peace, not violence. Mahbubani stated that “Western editorials and commentaries seem to have an almost automatic assumption that the rest of the world is responsible for generating the problems, while the West is struggling to develop and deliver the solutions” (175). So, without co-operation and mutual understanding, the future progress of humanity will be hindered to an extent. Assessment: The author’s perspective on the influence of external pressures on East Asian politics and political economy is based upon the historical fact of colonization of East Asia by the Western nations. Lynch made clear that “Throughout Asia, contemporary struggles to establish or consolidate democracy ignite passions rooted in two centuries of humiliating encounters with Western soldiers, merchants, and proselytizers” (3). Now, the economic growth in Asian nations deeply influences their political interests. For instance, the Western influence helped Asian nations to accept the innovative ideas like social equality and human rights. As pointed out, the initial response towards democracy in Asia was negative because most of the Asian nations were under autocracy. But the influence of Western philosophy helped Asia to accept democracy and it eventually led to modernity and economic development. Within this context, the rapid development of Japan after the WWWII deeply influenced the other nations in Asia. Now, the Asian nations like India and China are rapidly moving towards economic development and this deeply influences the process of economic development in Asia. So, one can easily identify that the initial attitude towards Western philosophy/ modernity hindered the economic development of Asian nations. Later, these nations came to realize the importance of economic development and accepted the Western nations as the model. All these factors shaped the politics and political economy in East Asia. Summing, globalization revolutionized the global politics and political economy. In this condition, the Western nations cannot ignore the rapid growth and development of the East Asian nations because the whole world is expecting a new world order with equal power and responsibility. One can see that shared responsibility can solve the imminent threats to humanity. In this globalized world, a single nation cannot solve all the problems and it is extreme difficult to maintain economic and political supremacy. So, the best possible way for the whole world to find out apt solution for the social, economic and political problems is to implement the policy of global governance and to share the power and responsibility among the world nations. Works Cited Dice, Mark. The New World Order. San Diego: Mark Dice, 2010. Print. Lynch, Daniel Christopher. Rising China and Asian democratization: socialization to "global culture" in the political transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan. California: Stanford University Press, 2006. Print. Mahbubani, Kishore. The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East. New York: PublicAffairs, 2009. Print. Read More