By Sangeeta Kumar

As America's hegemony wanes, the European Union and China are moving swiftly to prominence on the world stage--on their own terms. This new global race is most visible in countries where economic, human or natural resources have the power to tip the scales in the geopolitical marketplace.

Parag Khanna's recently published book, The Second World blends the assertions of realpolitik with those of a traveler's intuition. Substantiated by copious research and based on his experiences as a Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, The Second World shatters myths and raises potent questions with panache.

EGO Magazine highly recommends The Second World.

“A panoramic overview which boldly addresses the dilemmas of the world that our next president will confront.” - Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Former National Security Advisor

Congratulations on the book being published. It is no mean feat to have grabbed the cover story of the New York Times Magazine. Where do you go from here?
PK: The magazine piece was certainly the best pre-publicity I could ever have hoped for, but now it’s all about the book tour and sparking a broader discussion of the ideas. The timing seems to be right – there is definitely something in the air about these second world countries and America’s diminished world role, so it’s exciting to be at the forefront of these debates right now.

How many years of work/travel did it take for the "The Second World" to materialize? Give our readers a window into the genesis of the title The Second World
PK: The book required two years of absolutely non-stop research, travel and writing, and about one year of production up until publication. The idea though is quite a few years older: it’s a title and concept I thought of in 2000 when I was at the Council on Foreign Relations. Originally I wanted to do a TV show about these second world countries, but over time it morphed into this book because I was a young fellow at the Brookings Institution and probably the only person there who hadn’t published a book yet!

“[Khanna] strides the world in seven-league boots, armed with a powerful thesis: in the postcolonial, post-cold-war era, three superpowers have emerged with a ravenous appetite for energy and natural resources.” - The New York Times

Borders are discreet but cultures are not. Through your travels, what cultural peculiarities struck a chord? How significant are they? Will they be in defining global alliances?
PK: It struck me that despite all the diversity among Asian cultures—Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, etc.—they are really coming together into something of a transnational culture. Some call it “Asian values,” implying a certain respect for Confucian notions of order, hierarchy, filial piety, communal harmony, and the like. But that there is this notion of “Asia for Asians” is incredibly powerful given what a huge share of the world population Asia represents. The opposite phenomenon struck me in Latin America, where there is so much jealously and animosity among countries despite their cultural, historical, and linguistic similarities. There is no doubt that this to some extent helps to explain why Latin America has been stuck for decades while East Asia has surged ahead.

In a rapidly changing world where old allegiances shift is continental unity in the mold of the EU sustainable?
PK: I definitely think it is sustainable because deeper than the fact that European countries are now allies is the reality that they are all small and weak neighbors who cannot assert themselves globally without banding together in the collective way the EU represents. The longer they stay together, the more their incentive to remain the EU grows. No country has ever left the EU, and I doubt any ever will.

"Khanna is a serious scholar. He has read widely. He correctly calls attention to our growing inability to convince or cajole even as we continue to warn and intimidate." - The Washington Post

One rarely hears of foreign policy initiatives targeting the Ferghana Valley. You talk of the spread of Islamist fundamentalism in the region. Is China, given its proximity, better poised to stem that tide?
PK: It’s not just a matter of proximity, but credibility as well. Central Asian states such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are increasingly allied with China, and China has provided some assistance with counter-terrorist operations. But these some countries also remain suspicious of China’s long-term ambitions in the region, so there is a limit to what extent they’re going to allow China to interfere in their internal problems with Islamist extremists.

Given the designs of imperial powers it almost seems that the "Third Word" is better off than the "Second World". Would you agree with that?
PK: Definitely not. The third world, particularly Africa, is headed for another round of neo-colonial resource exploitation where corrupt regimes benefit from the growing presence of the U.S. and China, both militarily and economically, while the people largely get shafted. The reason I focus on the second world in my book is that these are societies/countries with more subtle mechanisms at work, where it’s not simply a matter of selling out to the highest bidder.

"Khanna, a widely recognized expert on global politics, offers an study of the 21st century’s emerging “geopolitical marketplace” dominated by three “first world” superpowers, the U.S., Europe and China." - Publishers Weekly

The path around the "Second World" is littered with American foreign policy missteps, ratifying unfair elections for example. What should be, in your opinion, the single most important focus of the new administration?
PK: A superpower can’t have just one focus, for example Iraq or Afghanistan or Iran or China. It has to manage all these issues at the same time and do them well. But if there is one focus it should be to involve Iraq’s Arab neighbors in rebuilding that destroyed country, and ditto for Afghanistan—in both cases to restore America’s own credibility and stem the outflow of terrorists from both of them.

Water is said to be the resource that will potentially draw the world into conflict in the coming years. How do you see that juxtaposed with the battle for oil in the present day?
PK: There is definitely competition to secure energy supplies, but with each round of that struggle we see that competition doesn’t really pay off when countries can threaten each other’s supplies. The same thing goes for water: fighting over it doesn’t produce more of it. There are water shortages in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, but there are very positive examples of watershed sharing, efficient irrigation, and so on that show that even suspicious neighbors can benefit from cooperation rather than conflict.

"A savvy, streetwise primer on dozens of individual countries that adds up to a coherent theory of global politics." - Robert D. Kaplan, Author of Eastward to Tartary and Warrior Politics

Going forward how will regional associations like ASEAN and SAARC play a part in tipping the balance among the U.S., China and Europe?
PK: Regional associations are very important for strengthening the hand of collectives of weaker states, and ASEAN and the African Union are two examples of this. They all have different strengths, and I see ASEAN as being the most advanced behind the EU. ASEAN is starting its own monetary fund to diminish dependence on the IMF, which they view as a Western imperial tool. SAARC is much weaker because of the poverty of South Asia and animosities between India and Pakistan. That divisiveness is exhibited in India moving closer to the U.S. while Pakistan moves closer to China.

Finally, I am sue your professors at Georgetown are incredibly proud. Any plans of moving into academia?
PK: Not at the moment. I’m bust promoting “The Second World” and also working on my PhD and another book on the future of diplomacy. When all of this is done, then I’ll explore my options.

Parag Khanna's Website: ParagKhanna.com

Photograph of Parag Khanna by Nusrat Durrani