Monthly Archives: May 2008

The Other Dimension – “Liberal Democracy versus Authoritarianism”

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A recent blog entry took a first look at Fareed Zakaria’s, ” ThePost-American World” and compared a number of BRICSAM-related features in his book to the well received volume by Parag Khanna, ” The Second World.” I won’t go over trod ground but I thought that Ian Buruma’s insightful analysis in his piece in the April 21st New Yorker an article entitled, “After America: Is the West being overtaken by the rest?” raised one critical dimension distinguishing the BRICSAM countries and worth exploring here.

One notable features in Parag’s analysis is his apparent distataste for democracy . Note in particular his rather Continue reading →

Evolving Global Architecuture – Second World versus the “Rise of the Rest”

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A ‘second wave’ of global analysis grips international relations inquiry. The first wave appeared after 1993 and could be characterized as the ‘Unipolar Moment.’ Analysts woke up and recognized that the comfortable world of Superpowers and bipolarity had evaporated and in its stead there stood the United States. Much of the analysis including from such luminaries as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former National Security Advisor (under Jimmy Carter) Zbigniew Brezinski sallied forth to declare the US hegomony as a brief moment with the system destined to revert to Continue reading →

China’s Challenges – Some Reflections on Dean Kishore Mahbubani

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I had the real pleasure earlier in the week to participate in an excellent show on China on TVO’s The Agenda. For those not familiar with TVO or its premier public affairs show – The Agenda with Steve Paikin TVO is Ontario’s public broadcaster. It has an education mandate and among its most successful programs is The Agenda (truth reveled Steve Paikin – the well known broadcaster and TV personality and the broadcaster for the The Agenda is my neighbor – not his fault). One of The Agenda’s principal producer’s Daniel Kitts put together a most interesting program entitled, “China’s Challenges”. Centred on Kishore Muhbubani’s new book, “The New Asia Hemisphere: The Irresistable Shift of Global Power to the East,” Steve first spent part of the show one-on-one with Muruhbubani, the Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and then expanded it to include: Elizabeth Economy C.V. Starr senior fellow and director for Asian Studies at Continue reading →