Asia is where the action is. Five billion people, one-third of the global economy, two-thirds of global economic growth, a third of the Fortune 100 companies, eight of the ten largest armies, five nuclear powers, and massive technological innovation. Whether using demography, geography, or economy as a metric, Asia is already the present—and it is certainly the future.
In The Future Is Asian, Parag Khanna sweeps us along on his travels spanning Saudi Arabia to Japan and Russia to Australia, explaining how Asia is by far the most ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse region of the planet. Even for Asians, Asia is dizzying to navigate. That complexity leads to common misdiagnoses: Western thinking on Asia conflates the entire region with China, predicts World War III around every corner, and regularly forecasts debt-driven collapse for the region’s major economies. But in the real world, the region is experiencing a confident new wave of growth. India and Southeast Asia are now outpacing China, leaders have put aside territorial disputes in favor of integration, and today’s infrastructure investments are the platform for the next generation of urban and digital growth. We cannot afford to continue to get Asia so wrong, warns Khanna.
If the nineteenth century featured the Europeanization of the world, and the twentieth century its Americanization, then the twenty-first century is surely the time of Asianization. With America’s universities and tech sector dependent on Asian talent and politicians singing the praises of Asia’s glittering cities and efficient governments, Asia is firmly in our nation’s consciousness. Now The Future Is Asian accurately shows Asia from the inside out, telling the story of how this mega-region is coming together and reshaping the entire planet at the same time.
Parag Khanna is Managing Partner of FutureMap, a scenario planning and strategic advisory firm. He has been a fellow at Brookings, New America, and the Lee Kuan Yew School at the National University of Singapore, as well as an advisor to the US National Intelligence Council and US Special Operations Forces. Khanna holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.