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Published Jan 2011
272 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
Here is a stunning and provocative guide to the future of international relations - a system for managing global problems beyond the stalemates of business versus government, East versus West, rich versus poor, democracy versus authoritarianism, free markets versus state capitalism. Written by the most esteemed and innovative adventurer-scholar of his generation, Parag Khanna's How to Run the World posits a chaotic modern era that resembles the Middle Ages, with Asian empires, Western militaries, Middle Eastern sheikhdoms, magnetic city-states, wealthy multinational corporations, elite clans, religious zealots, tribal hordes, and potent media seething in an ever more unpredictable and dangerous storm. But just as that initial "dark age" ended with the Renaissance, Khanna believes that our time can become a great and enlightened age as well - only, though, if we harness our technology and connectedness to forge new networks among governments, businesses, and civic interest groups to tackle the crises of today and avert those of tomorrow.
With his trademark energy, intellect, and wit, Khanna reveals how a new "mega-diplomacy" consisting of coalitions among motivated technocrats, influential executives, super-philanthropists, cause-mopolitan activists, and everyday churchgoers can assemble the talent, pool the money, and deploy the resources to make the global economy fairer, rebuild failed states, combat terrorism, promote good governance, deliver food, water, health care, and education to those in need, and prevent environmental collapse. With examples taken from the smartest capital cities, most progressive boardrooms, and frontline NGOs, Khanna shows how mega-diplomacy is more than an ad hoc approach to running a world where no one is in charge—it is the playbook for creating a stable and self-correcting world for future generations.
How to Run the World is the cutting-edge manifesto for diplomacy in a borderless world.
"Khanna writes clearly, with conviction and charm, and his neomedieval metaphor is so intriguing that readers will regret Khanna's decision to stay in the shallows." - Publishers Weekly
"Khanna’s strong main point—that the problems of a decentralized, post–cold war world demand far more creative solutions than they've received - loses its way in the author's discursive and, frankly, often boring text." - Booklist
"A valuable contribution to the global-governance debate." - Kirkus Reviews
"This book is...fresh, bold, provocative - and, most important, realistic."
- Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools
"By exhorting leaders to make use of new, open technologies that encourage more diverse and dynamic marketplaces, Parag Khanna makes a powerful argument: the world can become smarter than the sum of its parts. We need to pay attention to his ideas." - Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Parag Khanna directs the Global Governance Initiative in the American Strategy Program of the New America Foundation. Author of the previous international bestseller The Second World, he was picked as one of Esquire’s Most Influential People of the Twenty-first Century and featured on Wired’s Smart List. He has been a fellow at the Brookings Institution and researched at the Council on Foreign Relations. During 2007, he was a senior geopolitical adviser to U.S. Special Operations Command. He has written for major global publications such as The New York Times and Financial Times and appears regularly on CNN, BBC, and other television media around the world. He has traveled in nearly one hundred countries and has been named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
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