THE FUTURE IS ASIAN is written by Parag Khanna, Managing Partner of FutureMap (a scenario planning and strategic advisory firm) with degrees from Georgetown University and the London School of Economics. Discussing commerce, conflict and culture in the 21st century, Khanna argues that a "megaregion" representing 40% of global GDP is clearly of increasing importance. He begins with a review of Asia's historically great empires and then praises today's technocracies, particularly Singapore and China. Offering potential for better understanding due to an Asian perspective (Khanna was born in India and lives in Singapore), the author comments further on the tension between economic growth and individual liberties. Throughout, Khanna encourages readers to focus less on individual countries and more on the interconnectedness "spanning Saudi Arabia to Japan, Russia to Australia, Turkey to Indonesia."

This text will certainly be of interest to our students, several of whom were engrossed in the recent CQ Researcher report on China's Belt and Road Initiative, a project which Khanna describes as "the equivalent of the mid-twentieth-century founding of the United Nations and World Bank plus the Marshall Plan all rolled into one." In addition, there are chapters on "Why Europe Loves Asia but Not (Yet) Asians" and "Asians in the Americas and Americans in Asia." There, Khanna points out that "in 2010, Asia officially outstripped Latin America as the largest source of new immigrants into the United States" and "a quarter of all US businesses are Asian owned." The information on international students is also fascinating with identifiable changes – "increasingly taking their US educations back home" – since the start of the Trump presidency. THE FUTURE IS ASIAN is itself based on solid research, containing graphs and statistics, plus extensive notes and an almost twenty-page bibliography.

As the title suggests, "The Future is Asian" tracks Asia's recent rise to global prominence and makes the case that much of the world's economic, political, and cultural innovations will come from this region. Parag Khanna does an excellent job painting a larger picture of Asia's rise through thousands of smaller anecdotes. The book covers nearly everything from China's infrastructure projects in Africa to K-Pop. However, sometimes his breathless enthusiasm for Asia overlooks some of the nuances in individual countries.

The best part of this book is easily the abbreviated history of Asia going back thousands of years to the present. Khanna tries to retell Asian history with an emphasis on the various economic and cultural connections spanning the breadth of the continent. Even thousands of years ago, there was a surprising amount of interconnectivity on the continent, from Damascus to Beijing. Perhaps more than anything else, this helps make Khanna's argument that we should treat Asia as a connected region rather than a set of individual countries. This history also shows an Asia very comfortable with syncretism and adopting ideas and practices from abroad.

The sheer abundance of infrastructure projects and economic development in most of the region is really impressive. China's economic growth has been much heralded, but now Asia's growth is far broader and enriching India, Indonesia, and even parts of Africa and Latin America. As Khanna notes, this isn't simply a case of Asia catching up with the West. Some Asian countries are becoming leaders in certain scientific fields (the book was written before the birth of the first CRISPR baby in China last year). Asians are also innovating in governance and policy, with a heavy emphasis on mobile and online for banking, government paperwork, etc. As an American, I can't help but be jealous of the investments in high-speed trains and investments in clean energy.

However, Khanna tends to have an excessively optimistic take on Asia's prospects. In his telling, Asian governments are doing nearly everything right, while the United States is incompetent and fumbling. Perhaps most revealing is that he calls Indian Prime Minister Modi and Philippine President Duterte "technocrats", minimizing their attempts to indulge in toxic nationalism. In Indonesia, the rise of Islamic hardliners is never mentioned. Some parts of Asia are still struggling to develop basic infrastructure. Khanna rightly praises Singapore, but Singapore is still probably more the exception than the rule.

The book skims through the various security challenges in the region, particularly the South China Seas. Khanna argues Asians are more likely to accept overlapping sovereignty claims and prioritize economic growth, which should reduce the threat of war. Perhaps time will tell. However, before World War I, many European intellectuals also thought globalization would make war unthinkable. The future probably is Asian, but Asia is also a real place with real potential and real challenges. Asian countries are susceptible to the laws of political and economic gravity, just like those in the West. For a more pessimistic take on Asia, I recommend [book:The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region|29771631].

Khanna is also disturbingly rosy on China. Xi Jinping's efforts to increase his power barely get a mention, much less the severe crackdown on human rights dissidents and religious groups in the country. China's attempts to bully Western companies into labeling Taiwan a part of China are explained away as the West learning to be sensitive to Chinese sensibilities (Khanna several times explicitly calls Taiwan a part of China). Earlier in the book, Khanna claims Asians do not see Islam as adversarial or foreign, yet China's government has detained over a million Muslims precisely because the government views Islam as adversarial and foreign. The book also downplays China's exports of surveillance and censorship technology. To be sure, the West's promotion of human rights was never perfect, but I don't think Khanna has grappled enough with what China's rise will mean to governance and human rights.

Overall, I recommend this book if you haven't paid attention to Asia in years. You'll be surprised by how far the region has come and how much potential it has. Even accounting for the fact that Khanna's enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of his analysis, it seems clear that the world should pay more attention to Asia. However, if you're looking for a nuanced analysis of the prospects of the region, this book will probably leave you unsatisfied.

The Future is Asian by Parag Khanna – 2 Stars
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781501196263

This book provides a lot of incentive to think beyond the box; the box in this case is what is presented. Who’s the audience? This is a dump of everything learned by everybody imaginable without clearly separating fact from findings or observations. It is obvious that much research has gone into this to collect and report all the information. A PhD in Asian History may like the beginning chapter to refresh him/her with details of an era he desired; you get the author’s attempt to list all the “Asian” events from the beginning of time. I, on the other hand, was anticipating only something discussing how recent events and actions throughout Asia affect the goal of globalization. Instead, I was presented with a case study, somewhat biased, pitting the Western blunders vs. Non-Western successes. I wanted to know what plans the Asian countries have already initiated and are planning to employ to enhance globalized, worldwide relationships. This would have given me insight to private business changes, my investments, and America’s efforts to synchronize relationships towards a successful global integration.

A consultant needs to analyze ALL the findings relevant to predefined hypotheses of conclusions. Many of the findings in this book are bias toward Asian thinking which distorts the formulation of facts needed by the individual seeking global unity. Conclusions are sketchy against a synchronized global plan.

Despite the struggle I had to get through this book, it did make me think ALOT. The knowledge before reading this book was already adequate to understand the issues hindering the efforts of globalization. The last thing I needed was that the West is still trying to colonize the world while the non-west is opening it up (but, not to the West) with THEIR only objectives in mind.

Sorry, I’m not impressed with the pain-staking effort that apparently went into the research of this book when the message is ambiguous and conflicting at times. Way too many words and pages to get what should be a message to the West to pay ample attention to the world, seek ideas coming from the non-West, and together formulate plans for successful globalization. I certainly wasn’t the audience in mind for this book.

Reviewer: Rich

Despite the thorough research, details, and well-organized arguments, it is very unclear who the target audience is. A foreign policy geek/wonk may enjoy the rich but concise retelling of history of Asia, particularly China and the subcontinent, but a casual reader will be informed but perplexed as to how to utilize this information. This can be a great book for anyone whose interests are a tad more academic/detailed that what a typical editorial feature in The Economist or the Foreign Policy magazines covers.

DNF at 33%.

For all the beginning talk about how Asia is more than China and Japan, and should also include Russia and Australia, there sure is a LOT of focus on China (and to a lesser extent Japan). Yes, I get that it's a global superpower and thus a major investor and influence in Asian, and has ties to every country, but it seems to upstage all the other countries when the book's focus alleges to shift. I'm also having trouble following the thread of the argument; it seems more like an infodump of Asian history and the current state of Asian and Western affairs, complete with lots of acronyms that are spelled out but otherwise not really explained.