The Post American World- Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria’s "The Post American World" serves as a sobering disclosure of the Emerging World Order. This notion works in contrast to G.H. Bush’s New World Order- asserting a post-cold war era in which the US acts as the lone superpower. The Emerging World Order however, depicts a multipolar power spectra. "The Post American World" makes clear the fact that the US was “dealt a pretty good hand.” A hand squandered by the missteps of the Bush administration, and an American public who re-elected the regime in 2004. Zakaria recalls how the US, from 2000-2008, “managed to destroy decades of international goodwill, alienate allies, and emboldened enemies while solving few of the international problems we face.” Regardless of the US’s dim-witted behavior exhibit during the Bush-era, Zakaria sculpts a globe of waning American influence not purely on the grounds of incompetence, but as a consequence of the “rise of the rest.” Zakaria navigates the cause and nature of the “rise of the rest,” while asserting that the US has not realized how much the rest has risen.

The “rest,” as Zakaria explains, are the rapidly developing economies spurred by the relatively, recent capitalization of strengths in the service and manufacturing sectors. We’re talking about the economies of India and China. Zakaria spends the fourth and fifth chapters discussing these emerging nations at length.

Zakaria’s unveiling of China is somewhat shocking when taken holistically. Viewing the ‘awakening giant’ on a five thousand year timeline, China is on a gradual, yet tactful path to superpower status. It appears that China is taking it time, and remains somewhat resistant to draw too much attention to itself and stand out too much. This notion is exhibited in China’s non-combative foreign policy. China is inwardly focused and does find reason in evangelizing other nations. China does not feel the need to help others solve their problems. Amid this shyness, Zakaria notes that China cannot help but to be forced to play a larger role in global diplomacy as its economy continues to grow at its thirty year historic rate between seven and ten percent. When discussing the decline of America’s economic influence, it is critical to note that the US should not see China as a threat. China’s rise is simply a statement in fact that as national economies grow, the global economic pie must shift. This shift rebalances economic percentages from the old to the emerging. As Zakaria notes, “China operates on so large a scale that it can’t help changing the nature of the game.”

One of my few complaints of Zakaria when discussing China was the manner in which he glossed over China’s relations in Africa, specifically Darfur. Although, Zakaria was approaching the circumstances objectively, I felt he gave too much credence to the Chinese perspective on its dealings with a regime that is committing genocide. Zakaria, however, was very blunt in stating that China’s greatest weakness is its fear of social unrest.

Zakaria’s discussion of India was honest and insightful. Born in Mumbai, Zakaria does not flinch to speak critically and admirably of his country of origin. Zakaria emphasized India’s diversity. He sees both strengths and weakness in this diversity. The commingling of people with different traditions and ideas obviously breeds a culture that is vibrant and multifaceted. However, Zakaria writes that this diversity creates strong regionalism in India’s political process. The consequence of this is that national politics are defined by the pursuit of regional interests as opposed to national. Zakaria is quite definitive when emphasizing India’s strengths and how they appeal to the business community. India has a stable justice system. There is established rule of law, defined private property rights, and independent courts that enforce contracts. Zakaria makes no mistake in referencing the magnitude and growth of India’s private sector. He also makes firm India’s competitive advantage of a English speaking public who works hard while exhibiting superb business skills.

Zakaria is not necessarily hard on the US, even though he is very matter-of-fact about its recent failures. Zakaria brings light to a previously asserted statistic that “China produces 600,000 engineers a year, India 350,000 and the United States only 70,000.” This, however, is only true if you include auto mechanics and industrial repairman. In fact, Zakaria states, “the US actually trains more engineers per capita than either India or China does.” Zakaria also points out that the US has an extreme competitive advantage in its higher education. He states, “With 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States absolutely dominates higher education, having either 42 or 68 percent of the world’s top 50 universities.” Zakaria is also optimistic when predicting the US’s position in the emerging world order. He still views the US as a preferable director in multilateral affairs to China even if the Chinese economy surpasses that of the US. Zakaria essentially states that the US is not going to be kicked to the curb by the emerging world order; it simply needs to adapt and adjust its worldview. Closing with text from page 44 that reinforces this view, “…that will be possible only if Washington can show that it is willing to allow other countries to become stakeholders in the new order. In today's international order, progress means compromise. No country will get its way entirely.”