The myth of the ‘Asian century’
What is really happening is the rebalancing of the world as European and American hegemony dwindles away.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The future is Asian, argues the respected analyst Parag Khanna. But this piece of conventional wisdom needs unwrapping.
PHOTO: PEXELS
Martin Wolf
The future is Asian, argues the respected analyst Parag Khanna. But this piece of conventional wisdom needs unwrapping. Geographically, Asia is no more a continent than is Europe. “Asia” itself is not even an Asian idea: Europeans invented it. Asians did not conceive of themselves as being part of a single continental entity. The region is too vast and diverse for that to have been possible.
It still is. What is happening is rather a global rebalancing, as the historically brief but world-changing domination over humanity of Europe and its colonial progeny dwindles away. A multipolar and messy world will replace it. Will “Asia” make up a huge part of this? Certainly. China and India will be actors. But Asia is rather an arena than an actor.
