Parag Khanna

World Politics Review is not publishing the last two weeks in August. We will resume publishing again on Aug. 30. But during this time, we'll be opening up some of our subscription-only content to non-subscribers. Today we feature an article that was part of our July 13 feature, "Rethinking the Post-American World." In "A Second Tour Through the 'Second World,'" Parag Khanna argues that the diffusion of global power away from the United States is inevitable.
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The insights generated from geopolitical schools of thought give us enormous foresight into global trends. And for better or worse, they support the argument that the global power structure continues to rapidly diffuse away from American hegemony toward a post-American world. This diffusion is as inevitable as climate change. more

Even those in America who call for a more humble American foreign policy and recognize the need to listen to foreign populations and global public opinion persist in deploying at every possible moment the most patronizing of monikers in describing their preferred allies: "moderate." Over the past eight years, the condescending label of moderate has been applied to a variety of potential interlocutors in regional conflicts -- with never a positive result. Now comes an effort to find "moderate" Shiites.
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That India arrived late in initiating economic reforms is an old story. Now we are told that India is unstoppably on the move. Tell that to the truckers on this new road -- the colorfully decorated and melodically horned belching beasts, overloaded with everything from steel beams to sacks of flour, sit idle, waiting to show their permits, sales tax chits, and other sheaves of documents to corrupt officers. India is smilingly synonymous with chaos. Unlike China, it cannot be said that India has a plan. more