Excerpts

In this collection of 80 essays, Asia’s so-called Tiger Cubs – the post–Cold War generation – share views on the continent’s future.  Asia’s Challenge 2020 essay contest run by the Asia Business Council, Time and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore asked young writers to address the most serious problem confronting the continent. One threat to Asia’s prosperity could rest in short-term, materialist thinking, with economic success eroding traditional values, consumerism leading to unhappiness in...

Culture does not grow in isolation, and its truest practitioners explore and adapt. And so, the human story is one of countless exchanges and influences, suggests Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan, editor of “The Role of the Arab-Islamic World in the Rise of the West.” Too often, Europeans have neglected to credit Islamic influences. “What seems to be a lack of correct citation in European scholarship, particularly in the Middle Ages, may have been due to different practices within Europe at the time,” Al-Rodhan writes in the introduction, adding that...

The rising prominence of emerging economies in the global economy will reshape globalization in a few short decades, delivering immense opportunities as well as new challenges, explain Uri Dadush and William Shaw. Millions of people will be lifted from poverty, but the collective group of emerging economies with the largest population centers and greatest economic heft will remain relatively poor. The book examines potential consequences for globalization and this chapter focuses on Africa, which lags behind other continents by many...

Central Asia, rich in resources including oil and gas, attracts geo-strategic attention from China, Russia and other great powers. The population for Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan combined is about 70 million – largely Muslim with a diverse mix of ethnicites whose historical roots cross borders. The region was the heart of the Silk Road centuries ago and is central for modern trade and connections once again. Dilip Hiro explores the historical connections including those with Turkey and Iran, the development...