The Post-American World

By: Fareed Zakaria

Narrated by: Fareed Zakaria

For Fareed Zakaria, the great story of our times is not the decline of America but rather the rise of everyone else - the growth of countries such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Kenya, and many, many more.

This economic growth is generating a new global landscape where power is shifting and wealth and innovation are bubbling up in unexpected places. It's also producing political confidence and national pride. As these trends continue, the push of globalization will increasingly be joined by the pull of nationalism - a tension that is likely to define the next decades.

With his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination, Zakaria draws on lessons from the two great power shifts of the past 500 years - the rise of the Western world and the rise of the United States - to tell us what we can expect from the third shift, the "rise of the rest".

Washington must begin a serious transformation of global strategy and seek to share power, create coalitions, build legitimacy, and define the global agenda. None of this will be easy for the greatest power the world has ever known - the only power that for so long has really mattered. But all that is changing now. The future we face is the post-American world.

©2008 Fareed Zakaria (P)2008 Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A definitive handbook for political and business leaders who want to succeed in a global era." (Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe)

Interesting perspective but a little dated

Fans of Thomas Friedman will recognize many concepts. The author pulls in new ideas. Based on recent political and financial upheavals the book is a little dated but worth a listen.

Good insightful book.

Fareed Zakaria has very thoughtfully analysed the scenario on world stage and projected the future scenarios. The facts brought forward and put them in perspective was also very ingenious work.

Never judge a boo by its...

I thought it was going to be an anyi america patriot bashing dissertation. rather its a pragmatic essay on the rise of nations, the competitions between then and a geo political analysis of past and current conditions.

The Rising Global Economy

The title of this book might be misleading. This book is about the rise of globel markets, which should create a world without a super power. This is not about the destruction of The United States. This is the best explanation of the relationship between Taiwan and China that I have found. It is such an intelligent and thoughtful analysis of world markets. I believe this book should be used as a college course book. Mr. Zakaria is definately well versed on the complexities of these governments.

The Rise of Chindia

Mr. Zakaria's perspective on what's happening in the world outside of the US framework is a compelling and somewhat entertaining account of what we, Americans, must wake up to. This book is a must read for those who want to understand how we can tackle foreign policy in years to come and why the US foreign policy of the last 25 years have been a total disaster. However, this book concentrates on the "Chindia Rise"--i.e. China and India--and leaves much of the rest to superficial speculations. The analysis on China and India are well documented and referenced, but not so that of the rest of the world--i.e. South America, Africa and even Europe--which are also going through so profound transformations as those experienced in China and India.

This book provides an insightful perspective on the socio-economic idiosyncrasy of Chinese and Indian cultures--skillfully translated to the American mentality. Zakaria gives us a wake-up call on how those two countries can, and will, become US competitors in the global market and trade politics. Perhaps the most important point we can get from this book is that the US government and its people must get educated on the realities and "rise of the rest of the world", and the contradictory and hegemonic stance of the US government foreign policy. We have been to busy identifying our next enemies rather than our next friends.

Mr. Zakaria presents his views from a journalistic perspective--full of newspaper headlines and Google's sounds bites--rather than a scholar perspective; as a result, some of the statements may sound superficial or naive. He talks very little about how energy issues are having a significant impact on US and world economy, including the Russia's re-birth and the leftist socialistic trends in South America.

This is the perfect audio-book. It is easy to listen to and somewhat entertaining with numerous anecdotes from the author. I highly recommend it.

Very good insights offered fairly

As a conservative and political junkie, I have to take issue with some of the other comments. A reader doesn't have to agree with every point or accept every assertion as accurate to find real thinking value in a piece. This is not an anti-American book at all. If fuses some really startling points on how through our nation's global successes (economic and political) we have succeeded in helping the world to change and grow so quickly that our position as a sole superpower is challenged from the rise of other nations more than our own decline. If you believe competition is good, are optimistic about American ingenuity, and are not afraid of the new inter-related world, there's a great deal in this book to excite. If you're looking for the same old stale rhetoric about America and the world stage (anti or pro American), you may not like this piece. For those not afraid to think outside of the box, you'll get a lot from this book.

full of interesting historical tidbits

This was a book rich in facts, that surveyed many of the issues that are on today's front burner. It read more like a history book than a politically motivated view of the future.

A great country

when a Newsweek reporter can write a book to influence the critical dialogue of a nation that doesn't have critical dialogue as a nation and the folks who hold power probably aren't listening to books like this. So get out and vote?! Or not? Very easy to weave a narrative in and out of a topic this broad. Ultimately is there a need for this discussion? Yes. Does the author address the most critical issues? Not so sure there. We have just come from a very unpopular president who threw historical context to the wind and are about to elect another character who promises to do the same. Yet the pros and cons of rule by an educated elite (China) versus an elected elite (US, India) is touched upon but not in a more in depth fashion as I would have hoped. This lack of depth is made more appalling by the authors exploration of the US's educational system failing very poorly a significant percentage of the population. But no need to link these issues? He also seems to think we live in a world where muslim, jew, and immoral westerner can live side by side in brotherly harmony. Despite high oil prices... despite China's ability to do side deals with corrupt dictators who rely upon suppression. The price to acquire weapons of mass destruction are falling by the day at the same time the ability to finance these weapons is rising. Not that the absolute difficulty for Al Queda to acquire a bomb hasn't risen. Not that the disaffected aren't shrinking as a class (excepting the mostly muslim societies ruled by dictatorship). But the probability of the disaffected acquiring a weapon of mass destruction appears to be rising. The author appears to be quite cavalier about the challenges of our time. Western style individual liberties will almost certainly end up curtailed. Where is that discussion? Is Bush wrong to bring liberty to Arab dictatorships? Is the nation state relevant? For how long?

Worthwhile

In my opinion not as good as his first book. Post-American World rambles a bit, making first the main point covered much more insightfully in FZ's first book (capitalism, not democracy, is the path of successful nations' development), then moving on to a macro description of China (interesting), India (not so much), and the United States (very interesting). His fundamental point is more intuitive than profound: America is and will remain a great power, but other nations (especially China, India) will rise in relative importance. FZ has a rare ability to quote facts and data that support/refute such typically unsupported macro descriptions such as level of centralization / socialism, and one can't finish a book of his without learning some very interesting things about our world and the U.S. I always wish, however, that he would build on his detailed understanding to give some practical prescriptions for policy makers. He attempts to do so at the end of this book, but his list of "rules for a new age" is academic (go figure) and therefore seems more interesting than actionable, for example "Choose - set priorities," "Be Bismark not Britain," "Legitimacy is Power." Overall, I'd recommend the book, and I would strongly recommend his first, "The Future of Freedom."

Very good insights offered fairly

As a conservative and political junkie, I have to take issue with some of the other comments. A reader doesn't have to agree with every point or accept every assertion as accurate to find real thinking value in a piece. This is not an anti-American book at all. If fuses some really startling points on how through our nation's global successes (economic and political) we have succeeded in helping the world to change and grow so quickly that our position as a sole superpower is challenged from the rise of other nations more than our own decline. If you believe competition is good, are optimistic about American ingenuity, and are not afraid of the new inter-related world, there's a great deal in this book to excite. If you're looking for the same old stale rhetoric about America and the world stage (anti or pro American), you may not like this piece. For those not afraid to think outside of the box, you'll get a lot from this book.