Parag Khanna: All Publications, Events and Press

CA Event: The Next World - How Should the United States Respond to Rising Powers?

Communications — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
09/05/2008 - 8:00am

The rise of other global powers is a profound new reality of today’s world. As headlines remind us nearly everyday, China, India, Russia, as well as the European Union, Japan, and others are rapidly gaining strength and influence. How should the U.S. navigate this new world landscape? Does the rise of these powers represent an ideological challenge or an economic boom? Will global warming convince us we are all in the same boat? The Next World conference will explore these questions and others, focusing on key foreign policy priorities for the next administration.

Steve Coll, President and CEO of the New America Foundation and John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress will open the conference with an intimate conversation, and later will join the discussion with the best and brightest minds of a new generation of foreign policy thinkers who will help shape America’s evolving role in the world.

Three panel discussions will explore whether or not the U.S. is in decline, and if it matters, and how the rise of other powers impact American influence, prosperity, and security. They will also debate whether there is a global battle over ideology and strategic priorities for the U.S. in this new world.

Over lunch, Terry Tamminen, Cullman Senior Fellow for Climate Change and Director of the Climate Policy Program at the New America Foundation, will address how the United States can develop a coherent climate change strategy, with an emphasis on how meaningful formal and informal agreements to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases can be negotiated with rising powers.

This conference is co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress, the New America Foundation, and The Stanley Foundation.

Please RSVP on the Center for American Progress website.

The Globalization of Steak

Articles — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:05:00 -0400

As food and grain prices rise around the world, causing hunger and political unrest from Egypt to Indonesia, I still find myself nearly every weekend walking around the corner for brunch to Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan, where the steak frites is $17.50. Steak has been stable not just in its price, but also its gastric and emotional effect: Afterward I am both full and full of myself.

It first struck me in Shanghai at the tail end of two years of traveling the world on a lean budget to research a book. Deng Xiaoping was only partially right: To get rich is glorious, but to flaunt… more

Parag Khanna in The San Diego Union Tribune | 'Foreign Oil Producers Have U.S. Over Barrel '

Communications — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:36:00 -0400

New America in the News:
“The oil centers in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain have been investing in economic growth in places without much oil, such as Egypt, Morocco and Jordan,” said Parag Khanna, director of the Global Governance Initiative at the New America Foundation. LINK

Parag Khanna on CNN | 'The Situation Room: U.S. Fears for Pakistan's Future'

Communications — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:34:00 -0400

New America in the News:
PARAG KHANNA, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: And some of the militant elements in the tribal areas have also become quite strong in the interim.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Publicly, the U.S. says the impeachment is an internal Pakistani matter but sent a veiled warning to its close ally, Musharraf, not to take action that could be destabilizing to Pakistan.

GONZALO GALLEGOS, DEPUTY STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Our expectation is that any action will be consistent with the rule of law and the Pakistani constitution.

VERJEE: Musharraf could use his powers as president to dissolve parliament, fire the prime minister and call new elections. Musharraf has promised in the past not to repeat his actions of last November, when he imposed a state of emergency. It's unclear whether he would go quietly. So far, Musharraf has resisted pressure to resign, even as his unpopularity grows.

The critical question -- whether the Pakistani military will allow the government to humiliate and oust Musharraf, their former chief.

KHANNA: They might actually intervene in order to prevent the crisis from getting worse and simply force the civilian government to contend or to be comfortable or simply allow Musharraf to stay in power in exchange for the parliament not being dissolved. LINK to full transcript

Parag Khanna on the Kojo Nnamdi Show | 'The Collapse WTO Negotiations'

Communications — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:17:00 -0400

New America in the News:

(WAMU)--It was supposed to promote "pro-development" priorities at the World Trade Organization. But the so-called "Doha Round" of talks collapsed this week, as negotiators were unable to bridge bitter divides between developed and developing countries. We find out what happened, and what it means for workers and farmers in America and the developing world. LINK to Audio

Guest: Parag Khanna, Director, Global Governance Initiative in American Strategy Program, New America Foundation; author, "The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order" (Random House)

Parag Khanna on the Kojo Nnamdi Show | 'U.S. - Indian Relations'

Communications — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:43:00 -0400

New America in the News:

A landmark nuclear cooperation deal between India and the United States is on the rocks, threatened by deep divisions within India's governing coalition. As leaders from both countries meet at the annual Group of Eight summit, we explore their evolving relationship and the role of the Indian-American diaspora in foreign affairs. LINK to Audio

Guests:

Sanjay Puri, Chairman, U.S. Indian Political Action Committee (USINPAC)

Parag Khanna, Director, Global Governance Initiative in American Strategy Program, New America Foundation; author, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (Random House)

Parag Khanna in Khaleej Times | 'UAE a Rare Success Story'

Communications — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:11:00 -0400

New America in the News:

American author and international relations analyst Parag Khanna yesterday called the UAE a "rare success story", attributing it to its geographical location, globalisation and blend of foreign legacies with indigenous power structures.

Speaking on the role of the emirates in the geopolitical market place, Khanna, Fellow and Director of Global Governance Initiative at the New America Foundation, a non-partisan, public policy institute in Washington DC, termed the UAE "a meeting point for first world European technology and third world labour".

"The UAE has a culture of Eurasia. It is a story of foreign legacies blended with indigenous power structures in a post-colonial world. It is also a success story of globalisation, which is rare in post-colonial countries," said Khanna, who was a geopolitical advisor to the United States Special Operations Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007... LINK

Parag Khanna in XPress | 'UAE more influential'

Communications — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:16:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Flooded with oil money and foreign investments, the UAE is influencing international developments like never before, said a visiting US scholar on Sunday.

From putting boots on the ground in war-torn Afghanistan – for reconstruction efforts – to bailing out giant companies from the recent property crash in America, the Emirates is now a ‘player’ in world affairs, Parag Khanna, the director of the Global Governance Initiative, told reporters at the Dubai Press Club... LINK

The New Colonialists

Ron Tang — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:32:00 -0400

Even on their best days, the world’s failed states are difficult to mistake for anything but tragic examples of countries gone wrong. A few routinely make the headlines -- Somalia, Iraq, Congo. But alongside their brand of extreme state dysfunction exists an entirely separate, easily missed class of states teetering on the edge. In dozens of countries, corrupt or feeble governments are proving themselves dangerously incapable of carrying out the most basic responsibilities of statehood. These countries -- nations such as Botswana, Cambodia, Georgia, and Kenya -- might appear to be recovering, even thriving, developing countries, but like their failed-state… more

Parag Khanna in Turkish Daily News | 'Redifining Turkey's Strategic Orientation'

Communications — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:39:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...The implications from denying Turkey an avenue to the European Union are not limited to damaging Turkey, however, but also diminish Europe itself. As Parag Khanna affirmed, “Europe increasingly needs Turkey,” which he defines as representing a “geopolitical asset (that) Europe cannot do without...” LINK

Parag Khanna in Macleans | 'Interview: Parag Khanna'

Communications — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:45:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Parag Khanna, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation and director of the Global Governance Initiative, recently published The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order.

[Andrew Coyne, MacLeans]: Maybe we should start with the laying of blame. In 1949 the question was “who lost China?” One question that might be provoked by your book is: Who lost the world? Was it the “imperial overstretch” of the Bush administration? Was it the decade of drift under Bill Clinton? Or was it inevitable that America would lose its position of dominance, no matter what anyone did?

[Parag Khanna]: It was inevitable. Globalization did it, not Bush. What globalization does is resist centralization. You can no longer have central authority over anything, and that applies to America’s hegemonic position in the world as well. Power, technology, money, modernity spread everywhere—just about everywhere—which means countries have the resources now to do whatever they want. America is kind of waking up to that new world where it isn’t the only power. Globalization sets the rules, not America...LINK

Europe's Century

Ron Tang — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:25:00 -0400

This past week saw not only the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty, forcing a crisis summit this week to chart an alternative path to EU continuity, but also the annual EU-American summit in Slovenia, aiming to forge a common transatlantic agenda on Middle East peace, climate change and trade. The Irish vote is likely to fuel rumours of the EU's demise, yet it is the latter summit that will prove more revealing about its future. While mending transatlantic divides is commendable, the summit presents an opportunity to rectify misperceptions about the US leading and Europe following on global issues.… more

Parag Khanna and Fareed Zakaria in Wired | 'The Post-National, Post-American World as a League of Regions'

Communications — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:51:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Two new books – The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria and The Second World by Parag Khanna – argue that the new global economy power will be more dispersed and multipolar.

"Mr. Zakaria believes we are experiencing modern history's third great power shift, after the rise of the West from the 15th century on, and the rise of the U.S. in the 19th century. But he argues that this latest transition is not so much about the decline of America as it is about “the rise of the rest,” and by that he means much more than simply China or India. The end result will be a “landscape that is quite different from the one we have lived in until now – one defined and directed from many places and by many peoples.” Mr. Khanna similarly predicts that we are headed toward a “global, multi-civilizational, multipolar” world with three superpowers: the U.S., China and the European Union.

"Each of the Big Three powers will assert its influence differently, but the intense demand for energy and resources means that the underlying goal will be the same. And the main battlefield for this geopolitical competition, Mr. Khanna argues, is the “second world” – about 40 strategically important “transition” states whose relationships with the superpowers have the capacity to tip the balance...LINK

Stop Looking for 'Moderate' Shiites and Address Interests

Ron Tang — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:55:00 -0400

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. Negotiations with so-called "moderate Taliban" proved a failure; Taliban interests and unity certainly outweighed any incentives the U.S.-backed Karzai regime could muster. The much lauded effort in Iraq's Anbar… more

The Rise Of Non-Americanism

Ron Tang — Sun, 18 May 2008 09:25:00 -0400

After the Iraq war, Fareed Zakaria argued in his Newsweek column that the world's new organizing principle was pro- or anti-Americanism. But as the Iraq muddle drags on and China rises, the larger story of the post-Cold War era has come into sharp relief: We are not the center of the universe. It matters less that particular countries are pro- or anti-American than that the world is increasingly non-American. We need to get over ourselves.

Zakaria's The Post-American World is about the "rise of the rest," a catchy phrase from one of the most widely cited writers on foreign affairs. His… more

Here Comes the Second World

Ron Tang — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:42:00 -0400

This article is adapted from Parag Khanna's book The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order.

The term "second world" has fallen out of use. It used to mean countries of the socialist world; today I use the phrase to refer to those countries in eastern Europe and central Asia, Latin America, the middle east and southeast Asia which are both rich and poor, developed and underdeveloped, postmodern and pre-modern, cosmopolitan and tribal -- all at the same time. This is not a temporary state between third world and first, but a permanent condition in which… more

Parag Khanna in Financial Express | India Doesn’t Count Yet

Communications — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:59:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Financial Express | India Doesn’t Count Yet

US — a second world nation? The thought may be radical to most, but that’s exactly what Parag Khanna, fellow at New America Foundation argues in The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order, saying the 21st century will be dominated by three first-world superpowers: the United States, China and the European Union. And they will compete for resources in nations in east Europe, Latin America and West Asia — countries of the second world. Suman Tarafdar tries to figure out where the world is headed.

Financial Express: Why do you see the US becoming a second world state? Where did it fail to read the geopolitical mutiny?

Parag Khanna: The US did fail to read the ways in which pivotal second world states such as Iran and Venezuela could stand up to the US and sustain their defiance, not to mention the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. America’s imperial overstretch is palpable in its Economy that has been weakened by the war and exposed other domestic vulnerabilities such as a crumbling infrastructure, declining health and education standards, and deep political divisions. Those latter factors are hallmarks of second world countries.

Financial Express: The ‘deep differences in interests among the big three make forging a “culture of peace” difficult,’ yet the three are also bound to each other by economic ties. Where does the resolution lie?

Parag Khanna: A “culture of peace” can have several sources, such as mutual economic dependence in investment and trade, and also the reality of nuclear deterrence. It could be that rather than defining their interests in divergent terms — such as in the pursuit of exclusive access to oil and gas resources — powerful states such as China, India and America could focus on expanding supply through joint exploration and development. One sees this happening already between Japan, China, and Korea in the waters between them. Also, there are issues such as terrorism and climate that affect all powers as well, and need to be addressed jointly. . .

Parag Khanna on the Kojo Nnamdi Show | 'Rethinking Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World'

Communications — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:35:00 -0400

New America in the News:

All three American presidential candidates have pledged to restore the country's place in world politics. But the age of unipolar American power may have passed. Scholar Parag Khanna says the world is in the midst of a profound shift, with Europe and China flexing their muscles on the global stage. But he says the real power lies among global "swing states"-- smaller powers with oil, cash and other resources. He joins Kojo to discuss his provocative theory of the "Second World". LINK to audio

Guest: Parag Khanna, Director, Global Governance Initative in American Strategy Program, New America Foundation; author, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (Random House)

NYC Event: The Global Great Game

Communications — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/17/2008 - 5:00pm

Grand explanations of how to understand the complex twenty-first century world have all fallen short-until now. In The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order, Parag Khanna shows how America's dominant moment has quickly been replaced by a geopolitical marketplace where the European Union and China compete with the U.S. to shape world order on their own terms.The primary battlefield is the Second World, regions lying between the three leading empires and the third world: Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and East Asia.

Second World countries could rise into the first world or fall into the third-their future is precarious and uncertain, but their resources are the critical assets for the three expanding superpowers. Whoever dominates the second world will lead the 21st century and Khanna argues that America itself runs the risk of descending into the second world if it does not renew itself and redefine its role in the world.

Please join Peter Marber of HSBC Halbis Partners and the New America Foundation for a cocktail reception and compelling discussion with Parag Khanna about The Second World.

Parag Khanna on NPR | America's Waning Influence in 'The Second World'

Communications — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:04:00 -0400

New America in the News:

NPR | America's Waning Influence in 'The Second World'

Parag Khanna believes that America's dominant moment is over. In his new book, "The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order," he argues that the 21st centruy will be dominated by three first-world superpowers: the United States, China and the European Union. . .