Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Orderby Parag Khanna
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A graduate student's mind dump of information and disembodied quotes about rising countries and the struggle for their place in the world. Not my favorite, but a good overview of the emerging world order from a geo-economic perspective. A good companion book is Robert Kagan's The Return of History and the End of Dreams. ( ) This book is a global tour of a dizzying number of nations that is supposed to illustrate Khanna's assertion that there are three "empires" in today's world, China, the European Union and the U.S. This is an interesting and readbale book but I would have preferred a fuller exposition of Khanna's thesis illustrated by a few in-depth examinations of say, 5-7 countries. His attempt to name them all leads to a kind of superficial expertise, as when he talks about the way Islamic extremists are taking over 'pesantren', Islamic schools like madrasah, but the asserts that the two largest Muslim organizations in the world are Indonesian and offer some hope of a counter to the extremists. Of the two, Nahdatul Ulama is composed of Islamic teachers, including and largely led by the heads of 'pesantren' and the other, Muhammadiyah, grew out of the same roots in the writings of certain Egyptian Muslim intellectuals as most of the jihadists. Those facts are most relevant and worthy of further treatment than the mere mention Khanna gives the two organizations. If you're interested in International Relations, and you're fed-up with the classic powergame-analysis, this is your book. Khanna has produced a book that is breathtaking in its scope: he covers almost the whole world (with the very sad exception of subsaharan Africa), some 30 countries are screened, pointedly, most of them within 2-3 pages. The overall picture: the American empire is in decline, Europe is a very good alternative, but China will certainly rule the waves, by 2050. Khanna's great novelty is that he's the first to take globalism really serious. Stimulating reading, although I do not fully agree with his too contemptive analysis of US politics and society. This book is a geopolitical romp through South America, eastern Europe, most of Asia, and some of Oceania. It is glib, interesting and thoughtful in parts, but largely appears to be a sustained effort to "take the piss" out of the United States. If you detest the US and George W. Bush, you'll love this book. If you are more nuanced, you will find the book an interesting but not great read. In summary, US bad, China good. Hmmmm. no reviews | add a review
This global tour of the 21st century world shows how America's dominance has been suddenly replaced by a geopolitical marketplace wherein the European Union and China compete with the United States to shape world order. This contest is hottest in the Second World: pivotal regions in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and East Asia. International affairs expert Khanna explores the evolution of geopolitics through such underreported, fascinating, and complicated countries as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Colombia, Libya, Vietnam, and Malaysia--nations whose resources will ultimately determine the fate of the three superpowers, but whose futures are perennially uncertain. Along the way, Khanna also explains how Arabism and Islamism compete for the Arab soul, reveals how Iran and Saudi Arabia play the superpowers against one another, unmasks Singapore's inspirational role in East Asia, and psychoanalyzes the Second-World leaders whose decisions are reshaping the balance of power.--From publisher description. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)327.1Social sciences Political Science International Relations Foreign policy and specific topics in international relationsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |