The Future Is Asian

The "Asian Century" is even bigger than you think. Far greater than just China, the new Asian system taking shape is a multi-civilizational order spanning Saudi Arabia to Japan, Russia to Australia, Turkey to Indonesia, that together represents 40 percent of global GDP. Asia is rapidly returning to the centuries-old patterns of commerce, conflict, and cultural exchange that thrived long before European colonialism and American dominance. Asians will determine their own future--and as they collectively assert their interests around the world, they will determine ours as well. In "an authoritative book that may well become a standard" ( Financial Times), Parag Khanna explains how Asia's complexity has led to common misdiagnoses: Western thinking on Asia conflates the entire region with China, predicts imminent World War III around every corner, and regularly forecasts debt-driven collapse for the region's major economies. But in reality, the region is experiencing a confident new wave of growth led by younger societies from India to the Philippines; nationalist leaders have put aside territorial disputes in favor of integration, and today's infrastructure investments are the platform for the next generation of digital innovation.