If you care at all about the world, READ THIS BOOK. Really, it's OK. Just treat it like one of those trashy novels whose cover you need to hide in public. It's really worth it.
As an impressionable youngster I was brought up to believe that what worked for me as a kid was best for the world: a single-family home in a semi-rural setting, public schools, democracy, free speech, and so on. It took my first visits overseas to appreciate that people can really flourish in apartment dwellings. It's taken Mahbubani's book to make me realize that today's free speech and universal franchise may have been the RESULT and not the CAUSE of American middle-class prosperity.
Mahbubani's views have vital implications regarding aid to developing countries. We've seen in the news how elections by themselves have failed to stabilize unstable countries.
He also has some very ripe comments about the Western press, which no doubt explains why the book is so rarely reviewed. He argues that the press is an unchecked power both overseas and within the US -- imagine if a tinpot dictator refused to talk to the American press? Unheard of!
Mahbubani believes that the public should demand the same level of integrity from their journalists that they expect of their politicians. Yet it's rare that journalists are raked over the coals for being bribed by corporations (just about every major journalist seems to have spent time on Enron's payroll as a "consultant") or for marital infidelity. Washington journalists are very good at casting the first stone when some politician is caught with his pants down, but it's rare for someone to question a journalist's integrity based on outside infidelities. Given how "access" equals "power" in Washington, Mahbubani argues that the press represents a large power bloc within the US that is largely unchecked with respect to integrity. While I find this statement a bit extreme, there is some truth to it.
Some people see Mahbubani as an apologist for the Singaporean government. It's true that his words make their government more palatable to Westerners. But it's important to consider his words, regardless of whether he's an apologist or not. Intellectuals listened to numerous fools extolling the virtues of Stalin in the '30s. Let us give this fellow a hearing, at least.
Is Mahbubani "right" or "wrong" ?? I don't know. But he provides some incredibly thought-provoking essays based on a lifetime of foreign service.
