Kishore Mahbubani’s new book, ‘The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Power to the East’, captures the Asian transition — from being bystanders in world history for centuries to becoming co-drivers. The Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, Mahbubani served for 33 years as a diplomat for Singapore and has written many articles on world affairs. He is also the author of ‘Can Asians Think?’ and ‘Beyond the Age

of Innocence:Rebuilding Trust between America and the World’.

In New Delhi for the release of his book, Mahbubani talks to Ravish Tiwari on Asia’s march to modernity and t4he West’s response to the global shift in power

•You call the current global situation a ‘plastic moment’ and describe the West as both part of the problem and its solution. Can you elaborate.

The very idea that the West is part of the problem is something that western minds cannot accept as they believe the West is part of the solution. We are seeing the biggest global shift in power ever in human history. When there is a shift in power, those who are used to wielding power in the past, resist change. They refuse to accept the newcomers. For example, to become the head of the IMF you must be European. To become head of World Bank, you must be American. People from other countries don’t qualify even though they are part of the fastest growing economies, have the world’s largest foreign reserves and are producing more PhDs than the West. The West is part of the problem because it resists change and because it refuses to accept that it is part of the problem.

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