Never before in Europe has prosperity been so high and widespread. Never before has there been so much peace in Europe as now. Yet, never before has there been such a widespread, deep and gloomy feeling of pessimism for the future. Mahbubani wondered why all this is right now that instead there would be a need for a positive protagonism of the best values that the Western world has been able to develop.
Why, on the other hand, does the West feel lost? For Mahbubani, at the beginning of the XNUMXst century history took a turn, but the West still refuses to admit it and to adapt to this “new historical epoch”.
Western share of the global economy is shrinking and will continue to do so. It is useless to deny it or pretend not to know. The process is now unstoppable, because more and more new companies they learn and emulate best practices of the West.
Until recently, much of global growth has come from the G7 economies but, in the last two decades, the situation has reversed. In 2015, the G7 economies contributed 31,5% to global growth, while those of the E7 36,3%.
Three different types of silent revolutions have determined and at the same time explain the extraordinary success of many non-Western companies. Mahbubani describes them in detail.
- The first revolution is political. For millennia, Asian societies have been deeply feudal. The rebellion against all kinds of feudal mentalities that has gained momentum since the second half of the XNUMXth century has been enormously liberating for all Asian societies. Millions of people have ceased to be passive spectators and have turned into active agents of change, evident in societies that have accepted democratic forms of government (India, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka), but also in non-democratic societies (China , Burma, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines), which are slowly and steadily progressing. And several African and Latin American countries are eyeing Asian successes. Mahbubani recalls the World Bank's South-South Knowledge Exchange initiative, which encouraged the exchange of policy lessons and technical assistance between Latin American countries and their Asian "role models." Or the incentives of CINDE (Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica), in the wake of best practices of Singapore, to Intel's establishment of a plant in the country.
- The second revolution is psychological. The inhabitants of the Rest of the World are freeing themselves from the idea of being helpless passengers of a life governed by "fate", to arrive at the conviction of being able to take control of their own existence and rationally produce better results.
- The third revolution took place in the field of government skills. Fifty years ago, few Asian governments believed that rational good governance could transform their societies. Today this is the prevailing belief, to the point that for the author we are close to paradox. Asians have learned from the West the virtues of rational governance, yet as Asian trust levels are rising many Westerners are losing faith in their own governments.
Basically, the Rest of the World understood how it could replicate Western success in economic growth, health care, education… Now, Mahbubani wonders, how was it possible that the West did not notice it or did not notice it? given importance?
In end of the Cold War the West all wanted to see the undisputed triumph of its supremacy. Wrong. First of all, the author recalls, because the victory is not attributable to a real supremacy of the West but to the collapse of the Soviet economy, i.e. of a State which, while its "winning" enemy was gloating, has slowly recovered up to return to its place as a global power. The end of the Cold War was nothing but the turning point towards a new historical phase.
Another event that, according to Mahbubani, "distracted" the West was the attack of September 11, 2001. Instead of a well thought out and appropriate reaction, la hybris intellectual predominate generated the disastrous decision to invade Iraq. No one in the West has pointed out that "the most historic event of 2001 was not 11/XNUMX. It was China's entry into the WTO (World Trade Organization). The entry of nearly a billion workers into the global trading system would inevitably result in massive "creative destruction" and the loss of many jobs in the West.
In August 2017, a report from the Bank for International Settlements confirmed that the entry of new workers from China and Eastern Europe into the labor market was the cause of "declining real wages and the contraction of the share of labor in national income".
For Mahbubani these are among the main reasons that led to the election of Trump as President of the United States of America and to Brexit. The working classes perceived and suffered directly what the ruling and political classes were unable or unwilling to capture in time.
Why, the author asks again, many Westerners have no perception any of the significance of this epochal change that is affecting the rest of the world and overwhelming the West? A possible reason Mahbubani finds it in the fact that Westerners seem to have become addicted to “news”, paying attention only to events and not to trends.
Mahbubani gives the example of Malaysia, a country "narrated" by the Western media above all or predominantly through tragic "news" (feuds and political scandals, bombings and plane crashes, financial scandals and assassinations...). The result is that "few people realize that, in terms of human development, Malaysia is one of the most successful countries in the developing world”. Its poverty rate has dropped from 51,2% in 1958 to 1,7% in 2012. For example.
Kishore Mahbubani, as Singaporean ambassador to the United Nations, experienced firsthand the degree of self-satisfaction of Westerners with their inherent superiority. Western diplomats dispensed advice to 88% of the global population outside the West”with a barely veiled condescension".
The author is right. There is this attitude, sometimes unconscious, sometimes less so, of Westerners, whether they are politicians, intellectuals, journalists or even ordinary citizens, towards those who live in the rest of the world. An attitude of superiority, of those placed in front of theother, diverse, almost instinctively feels the need to instruct, educate, direct, civilise him, thanks to his position of cultural, intellectual, political and economic superiority. True or presumed so.
A way of thinking that almost prevents us from seeing that in reality an increasingly large part of the Rest of the World has gained or is gaining the fast lane and is increasingly determined not to leave it.
For Mahbubani, the time has come for the West to abandon many of its short-sighted and self-destructive policies and pursue a completely new strategy towards the Rest of the World. A strategy that he summarizes with three keywords and precisely defines the 3Ms: minimalist, multilateral, Machiavellian.
- The Rest of the World does not need to be rescued by the West, nor erudite in its government structures, nor convinced of its moral superiority. Certainly then it has no need to be bombed. The minimalist imperative will have to be do less and do better.
- Multilateral institutions and processes provide the best platform to hear and understand different positions worldwide. The Rest of the World knows the West very well, now this must learn to do the same. The best place is, for Mahbubani, the UN General Assembly, the only forum where all 193 sovereign countries can speak freely.
- In the new world order, strategy will serve more than force of arms, which is why the West must learn from Machiavelli and develop greater shrewdness to protect its long-term interests.
The wise West and East. Who loses and who wins by Kishore Mahbubani certainly does not spare criticism of Westerners but, in the end, it can be defined an interesting homage to the West itself. In fact, it contains countless tips so that it can implement the changes necessary to face the new and revolutionary historical era. A tribute to its laudable past but also a necessity. Continuing in this direction in fact, for Mahbubani, the West risks becoming the main factor of turbulence and uncertainty "in the hour of the greatest promise for humanity".
One cannot but agree with Enrico Letta, who oversaw the introduction to the book, when he says that it is fortunate for Italians to have the opportunity to read this book. Real. Very true. West and East by Kishore Mahbubani is certainly a must read.
