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The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order
by
Parag Khanna
In The Second World, scholar Parag Khanna, chosen as one of Esquire’s 75 Most Influential People of the Twenty-First Century, reveals how America’s future depends on its ability to compete with the European Union and China to forge relationships with the Second World, the pivotal regions of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South America, the Middle East, and East Asia that ar...more
Paperback, 496 pages
Published
February 10th 2009
by Random House Trade Paperbacks
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I thought for a few weeks last year that Parag Khanna would be the next big thing. I couldn't help but like him, he'd written a brilliant NYT magazine article and he looked so dapper... But a brilliant article can easily get stretched into a bland and plodding book. After the Russian Devolution and Ukranian chapters (which were informed and enjoyable) it was all progressively downhill and muddy. It wasn't that anything Khanna wrote was objectionable, but very little in the book convinced me t...more
The basic concept of this book is tantalizing: a survey of the "second world" - those countries which straddle the economic line between the developed countries of the first world and the poor countries of the third world. Unfortunately, Khanna is a glib"citizen of the world" who tries too hard to seem knowing. I almost put the book down when I saw the title of the first chapter: "Brussels: The New Rome." Excuse me? What follows was a short (6 pages!) description of...more
I had really high hopes for this book. I thought it would provide a good introduction and overview on developments in such diverse regions as Central Asia, the Magrheb and the Mashreq. Plus, it trumpeted its status as an NYT Idea of the Year on the back cover.
I've since come to the conclusion that the high praise for Khanna's book came from people who don't actually know anything about the regions covered in The Second World. And don't mind the fact that Khanna's book is really a c...more
I've since come to the conclusion that the high praise for Khanna's book came from people who don't actually know anything about the regions covered in The Second World. And don't mind the fact that Khanna's book is really a c...more
This scope of this book was extremely ambitious. Basically an overview of all of the pivotal countries and regions of the world. The author is well-traveled and has been to all of these places and talked with local people there, giving him valuable perspective. The theme of the book was less ambitious, which was probably why I liked it much better than Huntington or Fukuyama. The world is too complicated to fit into a single geopolitical metaphor. Khanna's theme is that we are moving into a...more
Very good info but not great. In the end, it boils down to geopolitical concerns of natural resources vs globalization.
The two global impulse are geopolitics and globalization with concomitant access to natural resources, power, and stability. He states the 2nd world economies is where the opportunity as well as huge risks lie b/c of its unreliable governments. He states that the US should have a "diplomatic-industrial complex. The three superpowers in the world are the US ...more
The two global impulse are geopolitics and globalization with concomitant access to natural resources, power, and stability. He states the 2nd world economies is where the opportunity as well as huge risks lie b/c of its unreliable governments. He states that the US should have a "diplomatic-industrial complex. The three superpowers in the world are the US ...more
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You can read excerpts on my blog site:
http://bitsfrommyreading.blogspot.com/ There is a link to it on my “goodreads” profile page under “website.”
My Review
Inspired by Arnold Toynbee’s 1958, 12 volume A Study of History; Parag Khanna grasp of the current world condition is written from the perspective of a serious and concerned world citizen. Khanna gives the reader historic background ancient and recent and gives us quotes leaders from the four corners of the planet an...more
http://bitsfrommyreading.blogspot.com/ There is a link to it on my “goodreads” profile page under “website.”
My Review
Inspired by Arnold Toynbee’s 1958, 12 volume A Study of History; Parag Khanna grasp of the current world condition is written from the perspective of a serious and concerned world citizen. Khanna gives the reader historic background ancient and recent and gives us quotes leaders from the four corners of the planet an...more
would recommend the book by Fareed Zakaria: The Post-American World and another by Parag Khanna: The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order. Both books offer thoughtful insights in the ongoing shifts in the balance of power that reshape the international order. They provoke discussions on the opportunities and challenges that America faces as its relative power declines and as it adapts to an increasingly multi-polar world. These books and the discussion surrounding them in...more
After reading about 33% of this word for word I got a little bored and decided to skip around and read the sections from parts of the world I was most intrigued by. It is now out of my rotation and although I didn't read all of it I'm now done reading it. I may return to it as a resource with specific questions that come up.
The writer is so bullish on the EU that he lost most of his credibility. At the time of writing the EU might have been riding high politically and economically...more
The writer is so bullish on the EU that he lost most of his credibility. At the time of writing the EU might have been riding high politically and economically...more
Khanna's premise is that at present the first world is divided into three almost hemispheric-correlating power centers: the U. S., the European Union, and China. The countries making up the second world are those caught between the stable and prosperous and those who're poor and unstable, the third world. Khanna says those second world countries will determine, through alliances, which of the big 3 power centers will dominate in the future. He's heavily influenced by Toynbee's ideas of how t...more
This book is a global tour of a dizzying number of nations that is supposed to illustrate Khanna's assertion that there are three "empires" in today's world, China, the European Union and the U.S. This is an interesting and readbale book but I would have preferred a fuller exposition of Khanna's thesis illustrated by a few in-depth examinations of say, 5-7 countries. His attempt to name them all leads to a kind of superficial expertise, as when he talks about the way Islamic extremis...more
Read like a series of briefing notes. He rightly critizes the US but fails in his conclusion to offer needed changes to US policy. Given his admiration for the EU and the Chinese, he could have suggested ways the US could emulate their examples. I question his analysis of Venezuela (anti) and Columbia (pro) - surprisingly one sided given his balanced approach elsewhere. He alludes to but does not outright state the damage the Washington consensus and IMF shock therapy did to US credibility in La...more
I’ve read his chapters on the Middle East; Egypt, Saudi, and the rest of the GCC states. I expected far more from this book. While Khanna’s style of writing is really attractive, the amount of information, research, and even analysis was really shallow. Nothing in the Middle East chapters more than what you read in NYT, TIME, or Newsweek.
Great view of where the world is headed in the 21st century. You will understand the theory in the first few chapters. The book is very dense, and most of it could be better used as a reference depending on which part of the world has your interest.
"Has a good premise but just too superficial. Tries to cover all the "second world" countries, like Turkey, Ukraine, etc. But it just doesn't work. I do not recommend this book."
A great read providing case by case information for the pawns being played in the high states economic and political games of our modern superpowers.
Some good information and insights, but also some misinformation, which undermines the book's credibility.
I will admit to not reading this cover to cover. I was interested in reading the section on Central Asia, in addition to the introduction and conclusion. I thought the author provided a decent overview of various countries classified as "Second World" but almost tried to do too much. I felt like I wanted a deeper analysis than was present in this book, and thought this might be in the conclusion. However, the conclusion was a long discussion of how the United States may be descendi...more
This book is going to shape my worldview for a long time, I think. It's a great overview of how the current geopolitical powers (U.S., the E.U. and China) exert their influence on "second world" (i.e., partially developed) countries, and how those countries can best interact with the big guys to further their own development. Let's just say the U.S. better get its act together fast if it wants to stay a first-world country.
Khanna is clearly an excellent researcher and theo...more
Khanna is clearly an excellent researcher and theo...more
Started with great interest, got dragged down in the youthful, pompous academic style which inhibited communication. I believe there were some great ideas in there and also many good facts and situations, however the style and density put me off. Probably great for a college class or background basics for a thesis or work. I suppose I was looking for a more approachable read at the time. I could return to this at some later date and find it what I was looking for, given the topic, however, w...more
I never saw a book use the word "diaspora" as much as this one. I actually want to go back and count.
That said, an interesting book that covers a tremendous amount of ground. Perfect for my short attention span, the chapters read more like magazine articles, something you'd encounter in The Economist, perhaps. I've read some other reviews of this book stating that there was a serious need for fact checking, but it could possibly be that the author's tone is less factual, mor...more
That said, an interesting book that covers a tremendous amount of ground. Perfect for my short attention span, the chapters read more like magazine articles, something you'd encounter in The Economist, perhaps. I've read some other reviews of this book stating that there was a serious need for fact checking, but it could possibly be that the author's tone is less factual, mor...more
A graduate student's mind dump of information and disembodied quotes about rising countries and the struggle for their place in the world. Not my favorite, but a good overview of the emerging world order from a geo-economic perspective. A good companion book is Robert Kagan's The Return of History and the End of Dreams.
So far, so ordinary...admittedly not far in, but up to now I've learned very little apart from the author's biases against very "emerging" countries (Russia in particular)...I admire and applaud his pro-Europeanism, but in general unless things change soon I think the last 200 or 300 pages will remain unread....
As a man woefully naive of current day political, economic and military power, this served as a fascinating geopolitical tutorial. Book's made up of bite sized snapshots of countries and powerbases around the world which for all that they might be a little short on detail are highly relevant and very readable.
The Second World points out how important the need is of the United States to alter it's foreign policy if the U.S. hopes to compete with China and the European Union in the future. The lesson to be learned from this book is one that no politician or corporate fat cat will admit or want to hear.
Very interesting travelogue and political science book. The second world are the countries that are above third world and will be a source of competition between what Khanna calls three empires-USA, Europe, and China
Great survey of the world as it is in 2008 and the role and opportunities that second world countries (most of the world)have in shaping the empire plans of the U.S., E.U, and China. Iraq and Afganistan suddenly make sense.
Sheila
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Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Sheila by:
Charlie Rose!!
Just what I said in my description-a fascinating, informative book that holds many surprises.
the 21st century will be full of changes and new alliances. It's an easy read and an important one too!!
the 21st century will be full of changes and new alliances. It's an easy read and an important one too!!
I heard an interview with this author on NPR. The book is about the many 2nd world nations that are developing and interacting amongst themselves and potentially changing the balance of world power.
My good friend Parag wrote this whirlwind study of geopolitics. No armchair theorist, he pontificates from the ground up, after traveling all over the place and talking to everyone he could find.
Unbelievable. A bit of travel, a bit of culture, history, politics, nationalism and more...really paints a good picture of what the first half of the 21st century will look like.
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