Book
Review
by Lynn
McKeown
Fareed Zakaria, The
Post-American World, W. W. Norton &
Company, $25.95.
Sunday morning talk-show watchers will be aware of the highly
articulate and knowledgeable Fareed Zakaria. After a number of years as a regular
on George StephanopoulosÕ Sunday morning show on ABC, Zakaria now has his own
Sunday talk show focusing on international affairs, ÒFareed Zakaria GPS (Global
Public Square),Ó at noon our time on CNN. He has a weekday job as editor of Newsweek International. Zakaria, 44, was
born in Mumbai, India in a Muslim family (though he says he is Ònot a religious
guyÓ), son of a father who was a scholar and leader in IndiaÕs Congress Party
and a mother who was, for a time, editor of the Sunday Times of India. Zakaria came to the U.S. in 1982 for a college
education at Yale and later earned a Ph.D. in government at Harvard. He now
lives with his wife and three children in New York City. Zakaria published the
best-selling Future of Freedom in
2003 and now has published The
Post-American World (also currently on the N.Y. Times Best Seller list).
The first chapter of the new book is ÒThe Rise of the Rest.Ó
Its first sentence gives a good summary of the bookÕs subject: ÒThis is a book
not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else.Ó
He continues: ÒIt is about the great transformation taking place around the
world, a transformation that, though often discussed, remains poorly
understood.Ó Zakaria then presents a picture of the world, as he sees it, in
which the U.S. is the dominant power – militarily, economically and
culturally – but in which other nations are rising up and achieving
greater power of many kinds, but especially economic. He sees the great
economic developments in the world as mainly a positive change. He says that,
though there is still much poverty in the world, poverty Òis falling in
countries housing 80 percent of the worldÕs populationÉ. For the first time
ever, we are witnessing genuinely global growthÉ. It is the birth of a truly
global order.Ó (p. 3)
Zakaria devotes whole chapters to two nations – China,
ÒThe Challenger,Ó and India, ÒThe Ally,Ó both of which have had dramatic
economic growth, though also serious problems. He notes that ÒChina has grown over 9 percent a year for
almost thirty yearsÓ and in that period, Òhas moved around 400 million people
out of poverty, the largest reduction that has taken place anywhere, anytime.Ó
He says that the size of ChinaÕs economy Òhas doubled (authorÕs italics) every eight years for three decadesÓ and
notes, ÒIn 1978, the country made 200 air conditioners a year; in 2005, it made
48 million.Ó (p. 89) India and some other countries have also had phenomenal
economic growth, though not quite so dramatic as China.
Zakaria sees the
rise of formerly poor countries – including Brazil, Russia, Indonesia,
Turkey, Kenya and South Africa – as the Òthird great power shift,Ó of the
modern era, after the rise of western civilization and the rise of the U.S. He
notes that, ÒThe tallest building in the world is now in Taipei.... The worldÕs
richest man is Mexican, and its largest publicly traded corporation is
ChineseÉ. Its leading refinery is under construction in India, and its largest
factories are all in China. By many measures, London is becoming the leading
financial centerÉ.Ó (p. 2-3) But Zakaria sees hopeful signs in the development
of formerly ÒbackwardÓ countries, something the U.S. has encouraged for many
years. He subscribes to the theory that Òa market-based economy that achieves
middle-income status tends, over the long run, toward liberal democracy.Ó (p.
102)
The author doesnÕt see the U.S. as necessarily deeply
threatened by this rise of foreign countries, though he is aware of the painful
changes being brought by Òglobalization.Ó (He mentions favorably Tom FriedmanÕs
book The World Is Flat, which
describes the economic development going on in India and elsewhere; the latter
book is a reporterÕs view of the phenomena that Zakaria deals with at a more
historical and theoretical level.) Zakaria feels the U.S. will continue to be a
great economic power for years to come, in competition with other countries,
especially China. But he does see a weakness in the American political sphere,
where he feels there is a paralysis through polarization and a lack of
intelligent foreign policy. (Zakaria initially supported the invasion of Iraq
but was critical of its handling from the beginning and now seems to feel it
was a Òstrategic blunderÓ – see his column in the June 23rd Washington
Post.) He is generally critical of George W. BushÕs overall foreign policy.
Zakaria has written elsewhere about the causes of Islamic terrorism; in this
book he states that Islamic radicalism such as al Qaeda is losing ground
worldwide, a point where there is some disagreement.
The author does some comparing of the present position of the
U.S. in the world with the position of Great Britain in the nineteenth century,
when the latter also had dominant, worldwide power. He notes that Britain was
wise in its earlier relinquishing of attempts to subdue the United States but
weakened itself later by attempting to subdue its rebellious colony South
Africa in the Boer War. The U.S., he suggests, is weakening itself in many ways
now by its attempt to control the Middle East and by a foreign policy that has
been unilateral and arrogant. This can be changed, Zakaria believes, by a
policy that is more sophisticated. He suggests that U.S. foreign policy be more
willing to prioritize, Òbuild broad rule, not narrow interests,Ó follow the
example of Bismarck in ÒengagingÓ with other countries, embrace what former
State Department official Richard Haass has called Òa la carte
Multilateralism,Ó think creatively and ÒasymmetricallyÓ about policy toward
other countries (not launching into military adventures that only help our
enemies), and recapture the U.S. legitimacy which has been lost. (pp. 231-50)
Zakaria also calls for less Òfear and loathingÓ toward others.
ÒAmerica has become a nation consumed by anxiety,Ó he says, Òworried about
terrorists and rogue nations, Muslims and Mexicans, foreign companies and free
trade, immigrants and international organizations.Ó (p. 251) And he has some
criticism of both U.S. political parties in this respect, as well as the media.
(Lou Dobbs, who appears on the same network as Zakaria, is called Òthe
spokesman of a paranoid and angry segment of the country, railing against the
sinister forces that are overwhelming us.Ó – p.256)
Zakaria ends his book with the wish that America might return
to the Òstrikingly open and expansive countryÓ he felt it to be when he first
came as a student in 1982. He praises Republican Ronald Reagan as an embodiment
of that expansiveness and Democrat Tip OÕNeill as a personification of liberal
Ògenerosity and tolerance.Ó If these qualities prevail, Zakaria says, America
will Òthrive in this new and challenging era.Ó This is a thoughtful book, by an
author with a broad historical and cultural perspective, and written with the
directness one would expect from a good journalist. We can only hope the
upcoming presidential debates will exhibit the kind of thoughtful,
knowledgeable discussion of foreign policy found in this book.
6/26/08