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After publishing articles in leading American journals over two decades, Kishore Mahbubani was described as"an Asian Toynbee, preoccupied with the rise and fall of civilizations" by The Economist. Trained in philosophy in North America and Asia, and well-experienced in realpolitik as a diplomat on the world stage, Mahbubani has unusual insight into America's ever more troubled relationship with the rest of the world.

In Beyond the Age of Innocence, Mahbubani

reveals to us the America that Asia and the rest of the world see.

We are a country that has given hope to billions by creating a society where destiny is not determined at birth. After the Second World War, we created a global order which allowed many nations to flourish. But when the Cold War ended, America made a terrible mistake. We started behaving like a normal country, ignoring the plight of others, indifferent to the consequences of our decisions on others. America was imprudent in its policy towards two large masses of mankind: the Chinese and Muslim populations. Guantanamo damaged our moral authority, but Abu Ghraib, paradoxically, may have demonstrated the accountability of American institutions. Still, disillusionment with America has spread to all corners.

• To allow any lasting gap between America and the world, Mahbubani argues, would be a colossal strategic mistake for America and a huge loss to the world. But there is still time for the US to change course; and in this thought-provoking, visionary book, Mahbubani shows us how.

Customer Reviews:

Singaporean scholar and diplomat

Kishore Mahbubani

is a great admirer of the United States.

He is also a stern critic. I think these qualities are exactly what America needs now at the time of our greatest strength. What Mahbubani wants is to gently admonish the United States for acting unilaterally and without the benefit of international law, while at the same time remind us all of America's greatness and all that America has done for the world.

He emphasizes that the US is not and has not been an ordinary superpower. Unlike other great states, it has not sought empire or the economic enslavement of the vanquished. Instead it has rebuilt the enemy, as in Germany and Japan, and as it is presumably trying to do in Iraq. These extraordinary behaviors by a nation state mark the US as an enlightened nation, a nation that knows that world stability and the economic success of other nations only contribute to stability and the good life at home.

"America is...an atypical human society," he writes, "unlike any other. Until recently, it has served as a powerful beacon, pointing to a future for all of humankind. That is its essence, its real mission: to remain true to its soul and remain an extraordinary society." (p. 211) Mahbubani adds that in other parts of the world, the men who open doors for you...look down in a sort of implicit bow," but that "New York doormen never look down. They look you straight in the eye and behave as total equals... They may work...in the building" and "receive tips...but they possess not an iota of inferiority." (p. 210) He calls this "an enormous leap upwards in the human evolutionary ladder." He believes that "America has largely escaped the pernicious effects of class stratification prevalent in the rest of the world." (p. 211)

His main point, however, is that America power reaches with its tentacles, both soft and hard, into every country of the world and affects everybody from the poorest to the wealthiest. Yet the only people who have any direct say in what the US does are Americans who can vote for its leadership. Consequently there is great frustration throughout the world with a power that to some extent controls them, but that they cannot control.

Mahbubani believes that it is especially important that America use its military power wisely. If we do not, the rest of the world will view our "soft power" suspiciously "as an increasingly frayed velvet glove that covers a mailed fist." (p. 197)

As an example of the wise use of military power, Mahbubani notes that "Global trade continues to grow steadily. Many reasons explain this: technology, open markets (an ideology spread by American influence), political stability, global trading rules (another American legacy). But one important factor that is rarely mentioned or recognized is the spread of American military power around the world. American military power keeps global sea and air routes open. Any force that tries to disrupt these routes will have to reckon with America. Since no country can, global trade has flourished." (p. 140)

Consequently, Mahbubani argues, the rest of the world benefits "enormously and directly from the global American military presence, which costs American taxpayers over $400 billion a year. But other nations pay not a penny for this." (p. 141)

What Mahbubani would like to see--barring a sharing of power--is a foreign policy by the US that understands the extent of its power and uses that power wisely for the benefit of all and not just for narrow, short-term American interests. He believes that what is good for the rest of the world is good the for the US. If the rest of the world suffers because of unenlightened US policy, as it sometimes has in the past, the US itself will suffer as well.

He makes it clear that the neocon dream of an American Empire is a delusion based on an unrealistic understanding of both America and the modern world. He writes, "With all the military power in the world, America appears incapable of subjugating one medium-sized country in the Middle East because it is incapable of administering the kind of brutal suppression the British applied when they conquered Iraq in 1917." (p. 10)

March 29, 2005

This is a wonderful book. Kishore has achieved a crucial balance between personal experience and general observation (I relished the journey as a reader between these poles!) and between being critical and supportive (it is unfortunate one has to be applauded for such an achievement but 'dem's the breaks' in today's polarized environment!).

Kishore's book beautifully articulates some generally-recognized dichotomies - for instance, the tension between individual American generosity and structural institutional implacability - and introduced me to welcome new insights. I was particularly taken with the notion of the ordinariness of American national interest in the context of superpower status and the structural disregard for external consequences - both critical insights for a prolegomena for any future reform of the American role in the world.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

March 21, 2005

I don't agree with all that Kishore Mahbuhani says,

but he summaries very nicely the post cold-war attitudes that have arisen as a result of US policy, the world over.

I highly recommend this book, especially to those who asked,

"why do they hate us?" after 9/11.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

March 3, 2005
Why is the world the way it is today?

Kishore Mahbubani offers rare insights and some

sound recommendations for American global policy after 9/11.

This isn't the run of the mill, former policy insider publication that sounds out the same tired refrain. What makes this book stand out is that it is written by an outsider with deep knowledge of America, its global strategy and its dealings with the world. Mahbubani is a kind of Asian Tocqueville of American foreign policy. He peppers the book with personal anecdotes and salts it with his wide-ranging diplomatic experience. He has produced a work that isn't just aimed at the policy wonks at CFR and the other high-brow institutions (although he certainly knows them), but pitched at the average American who cares about the US and its world standing, as well as all global citizens.

Thanks to Mahbubani's clear and uncluttered style of writing, we learn how America benefits and harms the world while separate chapters on America's relations with Islam and China highlight two major challenges for the sole superpower. Mahbubani speaks to all Americans honestly about the "in your face" attitude of American power, or at least one aspect of it, suggests how to better manage it and charts the way ahead for a more stable world order.

Apart from the many fascinating behind the scenes diplomatic stories, this book taught me two simple truths: First, the world can be a really nasty place. Two, only America has the power to limit its nastiness. The big question is whether it will heed the message to use its power wisely, or whether it will give in to its worst instincts.

Anyone who cares about the past, present and future of our world should read this honest and compelling book. And American leaders should read it if they want to restore the lustre to the city on the hill.

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Third Edition