Author: Kishore Mahbubani
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 263
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143031929
Description
Can Asians think? Is Western civilization universal? Does the West promote human rights for altruistic reasons?
These are some questions Kishore Mahbubani has sought to answer in this volume of essays written over the past decade.
Contrary to the prevailing view in the West that the centuries-old dominance of Western civilization points to its being the only universal civilization, Can Asians think? Argues that Asia is now witnessing a major cultural rediscovery. Asian civilizations, by moving from Western models to those evolved from their own rich heritage, are beginning to contribute to the development and growth of mankind in the measure that one would expect from this large and diverse continent. Mahbubani, hailed as an Asian Toynbee and the Max Weber of the new Confucian ethic, continues to illuminate his central arguments, in this revised and updated edition, adding two new essays on power, responsibility and the United Nations.
REVIEWS
Mahbubani writes with a diplomat's charm, gleefully untangling political knots into simple threads. This book has a special force because it comes from a man who is a prototype 21st century leader.
-Joshua Cooper Ramo, time Magazine
This book is a collection of absolutely first-rate essays, elegantly written and intellectually provocative. Mahbubani has an instinct for the jugular when it comes to identifying a critical issue and setting forth a powerful thesis concerning it. This book will make Asians and everybody think better than they have.
-Samuel P Huntington, Albert J Weatherhead III University professor, Harvard University, author of The clash of Civilizations.
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Can Asians Think?
Asia's Lost Millennium
Asian Values
The West and the Rest
An Asia Perspective on Human Rights and Freedom of the Press
The Dangers of Decadence: What the Rest Can Teach the West
The Rest of the West?
Asia-Pacific and Southeast Asia Japan Adrift
The Pacific Impulse
Seven Paradoxes on Asia-Pacific Security
Pol Pot: The Paradox of Moral Correctness
Global Concerns
The UN and the US: An indispensable Partnership
Power without Responsibility, Responsibility without Power: the Permanent and Elected Members of the UN Security Council
Bridging the Divide: The Singapore Experience
The Ten Commandments for Developing Countries in the Nineties
Index