Mark Leonard (1) (1974–)

Fascinating book looking at the state of political thought in China. The sophistication of some of the thinking going on there is surprising, but you are still left with an overwhelming sense of the cancerous elephant in the room - the fact that it’s a dictatorship. As I write this South African dockers are refusing to unload a Chinese ship packed with arms to Zimbabwe. A greater sense of outrage would have made this fascinating book even more powerful.

A real eye opener into the varieties of thinking of China's leaders. The title is a bit misleading, would be better 'How does China think?' since the present title just gives the impression this is about the opinions of China's thinkers, rather than their thinking styles and ideas. The author does introduce some unwarranted editoral comment in places - for example where he says '...the USA is rightly concerned about this'. 'Right' or 'wrong' here about a nation's perceptions is editorial show more gloss, the book would be better without it. In general though, he tells it pretty much as the Chinese thinkers told it to him. That is, until the last chapter where he sees China's desire to change the rules of the international game as 'defensive' - utter bollocks! Overall, an excellent introduction. After reading this, I'm even less convinced than I was that democracy is the universal panacea to a nation's woes. Memorable quote 'In the west, you choose the (western) chef but you have no influence over the dishes he cooks. In China, the chef is Chinese but we by and large get to choose what he cooks'. show less

本書旨在討論中國新世界觀的發展，彰顯中國對於知性自主權的追求將為全球化奠定新的模式。本書將指出，中國將如何用自創的「圍城世界」哲學挑戰美國全球化的扁平世界。(P.30) 這本書裡描繪目前中國知識份子對中國及世界的想法，包括新右派及新左派的知識份子，以及中國政府如何採納這些知識份子的意見，分別在經濟及政治進行改革。 show more 目前看來，這可以說是新加坡李光耀觀點在中國進行的大型實驗，在歐美及日本的現代化模型之外，又另外進行一種華人式的現代化模型，也因此中國的掘起，肯定會是21世紀的大事。 show less

Some interesting ideas here - Europe operates as a network of countries rather than a power-house or federation of states; it attracts adherents to "join its club", and hence expands outwards by influence rather than domination; and all countries share the same core objectives: commitment to unilateral action; democrary, human rights and the international rule of law; and negotiation and engagement rather than military force (p. 32). I can't say the writing is the best - some is repetitive, show more and it's a bit disorganized. But, overall, the ideas are of interest. The end result - nation-states, operating since the mid-1400s, when Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice and Milan dominated the Italian peninsula (p.26), have been superseded by regional alliances, and the EU leads the way. It's premise and practices show us how to negotiate this new territory. So, it behooves us to understand what's happening... show less