Has the West Lost It?: A Provocation

Author: Kishore Mahbubani Publisher: Allen Lane ISBN: 9780241312865

MAHBUBANI is a professor in the Practice of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He also served in Singapore’s diplomatic service for over three decades, including as ambassador to the UN.

This book, Mahbubani’s seventh, is very thoughprovoking, and it might even encourage some debate among readers.

Essentially, the book sheds some light on how western leaders (namely from the US and Europe) lost the plot after the Cold War, when they began assuming that they were the only superpowers left in the world.

However, events that unfolded afterwards– including the Sept 11, 2001 bombing, and the wars that followed – as well as dealing with ISIS and economic problems that ensued showed how vulnerable these countries really were.

The book also reflects on how the rest of the world, especially Third World countries, do not need to be ‘saved’ by the West (a propaganda that has been drummed into our collective minds for years) and are doing pretty well for themselves by learning from other fastdeveloping nations.

However, Mahbubani gives credit where it is due, and acknowledges there are good things to be learned from the West.

But he also explains how the elite in the West played a big role in why the West is in such a mess today. – S. Indra Sathiabalan