Front Page
China Daily | June 6, 2013
By Parag Khanna and JT Singh
Although we might know better, it’s still common to think of China as a monolithic whole. But it is high time to unlearn this habit and correctly perceive China’s diversity. And the most effective “New China” model of all views the vast nation through its cities, and understands China not as one big country but rather as a network of dynamic urban economies.
Project Syndicate | May 23, 2013
By Parag Khanna
The tangled web of international organizations that constitutes global governance has become so remote and ineffective that few count on it to deliver results anymore. Now, after decades of turf wars and self-marginalization, international organizations must rally around an increasingly pressing global priority: sustainable urbanization.
San Francisco Chronicle | May 12, 2013
By Parag Khanna
America’s technology sector is producing ever more accomplished thinker-doers. It’s not enough to just code new software or launch companies; the best and brightest tech titans have also become publishing stars, notably Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt and, of course, Ray Kurzweil.
CNN | May 7, 2013
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) between emerging markets exceeds that of developed economies. Parag Khanna explains the trend, highlighting the steady diversification of Chinese outbound FDI and new opportunities in Asia and the Middle East.
Quartz | May 3, 2013
By Michlele Acuto and Parag Khanna
Urbanization has already declared itself the mega-trend of the 21st century, with half the world’s population now living in cities for the first time in human history. While the implications for economic growth have been widely discussed, urbanization’s impact on diplomacy and sovereignty will be equally profound.
CNN.com | May 3, 2013
By Parag Khanna
During London Mayor Boris Johnson’s recent visit to Dubai on an investment promotion trip, he jokingly declared that he is “mayor of the eighth emirate.” Though uttered in typical self-deprecating jest, the mayor of the world’s greatest city proclaiming that London is a mere province of the United Arab Emirates is revealing about how Dubai’s fortunes have revived since the punishing real estate crash and debt restructuring following the financial crisis.
The Atlantic | April 26, 2013
By Michele Acuto and Parag Khanna
Leaders of major cities are increasingly taking on diplomatic and inter-state roles.
Project Syndicate | April 24, 2013
By Parag Khanna
The election of a new pope always sparks debate about the tension between tradition and modernity in the Catholic Church. Perhaps more interesting is the ongoing modernization of the language in which those debates are conducted: Latin.
CNN.com | April 16, 2013
By Parag Khanna
verywhere you look in urban China, you see foreigners: Arab traders, African merchants, Western students and entrepreneurs. Is China, where the leading ethnic dynasties fought to unite and control the empire into the 20th century, becoming a 21st century melting pot?
CNN Global Exchange | March 24, 2013
The leaders of the BRICS nations meet in South Africa this week and announced they would establish a development bank. Parag Khanna discusses their internal frictions, ambitious plans, and prospects for expansion.
The National | 26 March 2013
By Parag Khanna
Once again, it is time to appreciate that inter-city relations are replacing international relations. So much of what constitutes progressive diplomacy today is comprised of inter-city relations.
Quartz | March 19, 2013
By Parag Khanna and Ahmed El Hady
Each week brings new revelations in the scale of the European horse meat scandal and yesterday came news of faulty, too-sheer yoga pants, but there is a common theme: the complexity of untangling the supply chains of producers, distributors and vendors spanning a dozen countries.
Urban Solutions | February 2013
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
Great cities will be increasingly distinguished by their capacity to produce inclusive, sustainable and innovative outcomes. These cities will be driven by empowered citizens, ubiquitous technologies and policies that enable the actors of the generative city to collaborate on boundary-breaking projects that redefine the way we work, live and play.
Global Brief | March 5, 2013
By Parag Khanna
Edging toward the sweet spot of new-century governance, the info-state represents a growing number of dynamic and entrepreneurial cities, city-states or small nations scattered around the world that govern as much through data as via democracy.
By Parag Khanna
CNN.com | March 4, 2013
The upcoming World Cup and Olympics guarantee that Brazil’s international visibility will continue its rapid ascent. The country just has to ensure there are seats for all of the guests. Brazil may be emerging from its reputation as the permanent “land of tomorrow,” but it will likely get there only at the last minute.
Straits Times | February 23, 2013
By Parag Khanna
It’s striking how the image of Singapore lags two decades behind the reality. While the monikers of trivial incidents are passed down over generations, many of Singapore’s virtues remain its best-kept secrets.
Foreign Policy | February 8, 2013
By Parag Khanna and Sawsan Gad
The competition for authority within and between states is as intense as ever in history. And it’s due not just to the current wave of democratic experimentation occurring across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, but also the rising power of corporations, NGOs, religious groups, terrorists, and other individuals who today are financially, militarily, and technologically empowered like never before.
Quartz | 31 January 2013
By Parag Khanna
Myanmar began and ended 2012 as the frontier market on everyone’s mind. As a large, populous and strategically located country, Myanmar naturally invites the imagination to marvel at its possibilities—and investment opportunities. The powers that be are keen to modernize but still cautious about how quickly they open up.
CNN.com | 3 January 2013
By Parag Khanna
Call it a case for evolution instead of revolution. While the Arab world continues in the throes of violence and uncertainty, Myanmar is undergoing incremental change — and almost everyone seems to want it that way.
The National Interest | January-February 2013
By Marc Goodman and Parag Khanna
WHILE CYBERSPACE and social media have grabbed global headlines in recent years, other major technology clusters will have an even more seismic impact on geopolitics in coming decades. They include biotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence. Indeed, these technologies are coming of age and experiencing exponential innovation as well as growth—and not just in the United States. New contenders, including Asian state-run laboratories, corporate investors, DIY/maker groups, terrorists and organized criminals are all competing to harness and leverage technology in pursuit of their interests. In this rapidly changing environment, America risks having its international dominance undermined by these emerging technologies and players, much as Arab despots have been overthrown by protesters empowered in part by social media.
Hindustan Times Leadership Summit | 16 November 2012
In an argument in support of an optimistic global outlook, Dr. Parag Khanna of the Hybrid Reality Institute cites advancements in the ability for humans to communicate, innovate, and travel as drivers of a new world economy.
Hindustan Times | November 16, 2012
By Gaurav Chowdhury
India needs to quickly embrace technology, modernise retail trade and focus on infrastructure development to spin jobs and boost incomes. If it fails to do so, the growth process may leave behind a significant section of the population and bring on socio-political upheavals that the country can ill-afford, leading geo-strategist Parag Khanna has cautioned.
CNN.com | November 14, 2012
By Parag Khanna and John Gilman
The South China Sea has returned to the geopolitical spotlight, eclipsing the Taiwan Straits as the region’s most volatile flashpoint. But quite unlike the Taiwan or the associated Quemoy/Matsu dispute, the South China Sea’s claimant nations are at least as interested in developing the region’s economic potential as they are in asserting sovereignty and building military bases.
Google Zeitgeist | October 2012
Revitalizing our communities takes ingenuity and collaboration. Who is on the front line, and how are they shaking things up?
The Atlantic | October 24, 2012
By Soner Cagaptay and Parag Khanna
One-and-a-half years into Syria’s civil war, the latest chapter is the armed hostility between Syria and Turkey, once a friend of the Assad regime. A century ago, it was Western powers that dismantled and carved up the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Today, Turkey can place itself in the driver’s seat of shaping the borders of the emerging Near East map.
WIRED UK | October 2012
By Parag Khanna
Answer the following question, with confidence if you can: from which sector will the first trillion-dollar company come? Your choices: IT, shale gas, 3D modular design/printing, pharmaceuticals.
Google Zeitgeist | October 16, 2012
Parag Khanna speaks with Dan Gilbert of Rock Ventures about revitalizing our communities with ingenuity and collaboration.
McKinsey Center for Government | October 2012
By Parag Khanna
Parastatals occupy a vital middle ground between public agencies and private-sector organizations. They’re powerful, opaque, and proliferating around the world.
CNN.com | October 8, 2012
By Parag Khanna
Dusk can feel like an apocalyptic time of day to arrive in Nigeria. Flying over the Niger Delta region from the East and descending towards Lagos, plumes of haze from constant oil fires rise into the sky. Nigeria is not for the faint-hearted.
CNBC Asia | October 8, 2012
High rates of infrastructure investments in Asia are helping to attract investors. Parag Khanna discusses the pattern of infrastructure investment on the continent.
CNBC Asia | October 8, 2012
Parag Khanna says recent signs are pointing to positivity in the global economy. He also discusses Jack Welch’s comments that the U.S. jobs data has been ‘cooked’.
Quartz | September 28, 2012
By Parag Khanna
At some point in the next 200 million years, according to Yale University scientists, the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates will collide at the North Pole. When they are eventually joined by Africa, the singular super-continent will re-emerge, reminiscent of the Pangea that existed hundreds of millions of years ago.
The New York Times | September 22, 2012
By Frank Jacobs and Parag Khanna
IT has been just over 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the last great additions to the world’s list of independent nations. As Russia’s satellite republics staggered onto the global stage, one could be forgiven for thinking that this was it: the end of history, the final major release of static energy in a system now moving very close to equilibrium.
CNN.com | September 9, 2012
By Parag Khanna
here’s never been a better time to visit North Korea. The specter of U.S.-South Korean military exercises, a potential nuclear test, assassinations of defectors in South Korea, and general saber-rattling haven’t prevented a record 4,000 tourists from arriving in Pyongyang this year.
Global Policy | September 2012
By Parag Khanna
This article provides a snapshot of the increasing extensiveness of multi-stakeholder processes through a conceptual overview and an empirical survey, highlighting instances in which various actor pillars (governments, intergovernmental organisations, civil society organisations, corporations, etc.) have begun to expand their membership and participation to include other stakeholders.
The Straits Times | September 24, 2012
By Cheong Suk Wai
Geopolitical strategist Parag Khanna and his wife Ayesha are so well travelled that they have had to get a new passport for their three-year-old daughter Zara, her old one having run out of pages.
Foreign Policy | September/October 2012
By Aaron Smith and Parag Khanna
As technology shifts the workforce, some surprisingly traditional jobs are on the chopping block. Two words: medical robotics.
Common Fund Insight | Summer 2012
By Parag Khanna
America’s claim on globalization was short-sighted and hence short-lived. It’s a highly decentralized, ‘G-Zero’ world out there, and a number of clear trends are emerging. But one fact is indisputable: The U.S. is no longer the center of the commerce universe. Here’s why…
TED | July 7, 2012
This year’s TED Global conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, carried the provocative theme “Radical Openness.” Parag Khanna guest hosted a full session on the “Upside of Transparency” featuring a range of brilliant speakers.
The Washington Post | July 3, 2012
By Chris Schroeder
“Globalization” isn’t a popular word in political circles these days, but authors Parag and Ayesha Khanna are making it their life’s mission to change that. In their new e-book, “Hybrid Reality,” the couple argue that the burgeoning forces of worldwide connectedness and shared innovation will open opportunities to all who understand and embrace them.
Daily Beast | June 25, 2012
By Ayesha & Parag Khanna
The measure of success and power in the age of info-states isn’t wealth or security alone but also Technik, the capacity to harness emerging technologies for the benefit of the population.
TED.com | June 24, 2012
By Helen Walter
No stranger to the TED stage himself, geo-strategist and author Parag Khanna is curating one of the sessions at this year’s TEDGlobal. “The Upside of Transparency” promises to be enlightening, thought-provoking — and perhaps just a little bit scary. Helen Walters recently talked to Parag in London. An edited version of their conversation follows.
CNN.com | June 21, 2012
By Ayesha & Parag Khanna
After Tip O’Neill’s “All politics is local,” Bill Clinton’s quip “It’s the economy, stupid,” is perhaps the most oft-quoted truism of modern American politics. But as times change, we should update our aphorisms accordingly.
Atlantic Cities | June 21, 2012
By Parag Khanna and Thomas Sevcik
Ever since the handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China in 1997, land reclamation on both the island itself and from Kowloon peninsula have shrunk the breadth of Victoria harbor to a perpetually narrowing strait. This geographical trend turns out to serve as a useful metaphor for the island’s changing politics and economic orientation as China’s control deepens.
MSNBC | June 16, 2012
Ayesha and Parag Khanna share the thesis of their new e-book, “Hybrid Reality,” as they and Melissa Harris-Perry look at how technology has evolved and become integrated into everyday life.
Esquire | June 14, 2012
By Parag Khanna
So Facebook’s IPO fizzled. So its growth is slowing. So nobody’s really sure what to make of the so-called second bubble in Silicon Valley, and you’re sick of seeing Jamie Dimon on Capitol Hill, and have we mentioned that the job numbers aren’t looking so great? But still, there’s good news ahead: The world of trillion-dollar companies is still around the corner.
Pando Daily | June 13, 2012
By Ayesha & Parag Khanna
As we accelerate into this Hybrid Age, it’s worth taking stock of our individual preparedness for the future. Instead of IQ or EQ, we believe all members of society need higher TQ – technology quotient – to adapt to rapidly changing technological conditions.
Skagen Funds | June 7, 2012
At a conference organised by SKAGEN on 7 June 2012, Dr Parag Khanna discusses how the geopolitical landscape has changed over the past 20 years and how we are entering into a golden age of globalisation.
Slate.com | June 13, 2012
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
We are on the verge of living in a human-technology civilization.
The Atlantic | June 2012
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
Much as economic integration made the world more cooperative and less conflict-prone, so can technology. Is this Pax Technologica?
Harvard Business Review | June 12, 2012
By Ayesha Khanna and Parag Khanna
Technik is about adaptability: the capacity to harness emerging technologies to improve our circumstances. In a world of such diverse political forms — democracies, monarchies, authoritarian states — we will increasingly differentiate societies on the basis not of their regime type or income, but of their capacity to harness technology. Societies that continuously upgrade their Technik will thrive.
Forbes.com | June 7, 2012
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
Back in 2004, America’s leading humor magazine the Onion ran a story titled “American Robot’s Job Outsourced to Overseas Robot.” The lawnmower assembling 11-year old robot named QT2D-7 bitterly complained of not receiving any notice or severance.
Straits Times | May 26, 2012
By Ayesha & Parag Khanna
The unofficial capital of Asia is the place to be to witness an exciting future unfolding.
Bloomberg Businessweek | May 24, 2012
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
It’s a cliché that the Pacific Ocean is displacing the Atlantic, that China will replace America at the top of the world’s hierarchy of power, and the East will surpass the West. The cliché is also wrong. The multipolar world we are entering will have no single winner, and the three-pillared West of the European Union, North America and Latin America remains a triangular zone of peace and foundation of global stability.
CNN Global Exchange | May 9, 2012
Parag Khanna discusses the emergence of state-capitalism with John Defterios on CNN’s Global Exchange.
Oxford University | April 23, 2012
In this lecture, Ayesha & Parag Khanna discuss the main characteristics of the Hybrid Age, elaborating on the notion of human-technology co-evolution and the framework of geo-technology for interpreting historical change. Particular attention is given to manifestations such as social robotics, the virtual economy, and smart cities. They also present numerous scenarios for social, economic and geopolitical disruptions that might occur in the coming decades.
The National Interest | May-June 2012
By Parag Khanna
THE OLD Order no longer qualifies as an order. The term “world order” denotes a stable distribution of power across the world. But power concentration today is in a state of tremendous flux, characterized by rapid diffusion and entropy toward a broad set of emerging powers that now share the regional and global stage. Western-centered multilateralism represents at best a partial component of a world system that is increasingly fragmented.
Schweizer Monat | April 2012
Interview with Florian Rittmeyer
The 21st century will not be dominated by China, India or Brazil but by the City. Such is the prediction of Parag Khanna. He sees Switzerland as a state of cities. And proposes a partnership with Singapore.
The World Today | April/May 2012
Interview conducted by Alan Philips
One of the most original thinkers on global strategy and technology discusses the future of the nation state, the focus of British foreign policy and how good can emerge from crisis.
CNN | March 28, 2012
Parag Khanna discusses the tensions below the surface at this year’s BRICS summit in New Delhi on CNN’s Global Exchange hosted by John Defterios.
Financial Times | March 28, 2012
By Parag Khanna
The term “Brics” is the ultimate double-edge sword of global political economy. It connotes a set of fast-growing and increasingly influential economies (also described as “rising powers” or “second world”). But it imputes to them a sense of unity that on closer inspection may not really exist. This week’s Brics summit in New Delhi reveals the potential and flaws of both aspects of the term – and why India ultimately has to be self-reliant.
Chatham House | March 15, 2012
Parag Khanna, Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, Senior Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Visiting Fellow at LSE IDEAS, outlines his geo-technological view of the world to Young Leaders at Chatham House in London.
UNICEF | March 1, 2012
“If children’s rights will be achieved anywhere, it will certainly be in the cities.” On the occasion of the launch of The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World, UNICEF’s communication specialist Tobias Dierks asked Parag Khanna, one of the world’s leading geo-strategists, what impact urbanization has on our lives, why he thinks that cities are the “locus of global problem-solving” and how children’s rights can best be protected in an urban world.
Australian Financial Review | February 24, 2012
By Barry Dunstan
In Australia for investment symposiums for Perennial Investment Partners, Khanna spends?his time charting the major changes in the world as the West struggles and the emerging world rises – and he envies Australia and the other resources-rich Western country, Canada.
Ambulance to Mongolia — Video from the Charity Rally 2010
der Freitag | February 3, 2012
Interview with Mikhael Krogerus
Die 40 wichtigsten weltpolitischen Fragen an einen, der glaubt, jede Antwort zu kennen: Dr. Parag Khanna, der Popstar unter den Politberatern.
LSE IDEAS | January 14, 2012
By Parag Khanna
Like ‘Clash of Civilizations,’ the repetitive dissection of ‘soft power’ over time has only further muddied and corrupted whatever utility the phrase might once have had in its original formulation. Both terms are provocative rejoinders to the spirit of the times, but neither is analytically rigorous enough to improve policy. If anything, their endless hijacking has derailed serious policy discussions, diluting them into sophomoric academic stand-offs.
CNN | December 28, 2011
Parag Khanna tours Mumbai with CNN’s Mallika Kapur to explain the need for a data-driven cities index, the importance of large-scale infrastructure to alleviate urban congestion and boost productivity, and the economic promise of slums such as Mumbai’s Dharavi.
Financial Times | December 28, 2011
By Jonas Parello-Plesner and Parag Khanna
This year proved a tipping point for China’s approach to the world. The confluence of Europe’s debt crisis and America’s contracting defence budget has created rising expectations that China will shoulder ever greater power burdens for international stability. No longer can it keep a low profile in international strategic and economic affairs. Could it join America as a world policeman sooner than expected?
Harvard Business Review | January – February 2012
By Parag Khanna and Karan Khemka
The new year begins precariously. The global economy vacillates between signs of recovery and omens of collapse. Businesses seem paralyzed. Even though they’re sitting on $2 trillion in cash, they’re risk-averse, strategically incremental, and notably lacking in fresh ideas.
Business Standard | December 2, 2011
Interview with Indira Kannan
In this interview, Parag Khanna discusses with Indira Kannan why BRICS is “bullshit” and what India needs to do to assert itself on the global stage.
Atlantic Cities | November 17, 2011
By Parag Khanna and Thomas Sevcik
Oil prices remain near record highs, gold has gone through the roof, technology sector equity valuations are frothing over and emerging markets are decoupling from the moribund West. As investors seek new or alternative asset classes as either safe harbors or high-return prospects, there is an essential new portfolio that needs to be developed: cities.
Foreign Policy | November 11, 2011
The Obama administration is turning to Asia for the defining competition of the next century. But if the United States actually wants to win, it’ll need Latin America.
Compass Summit | October 24, 2011
Compass Summit, a forum for true interaction and exchange examines some of today’s most pressing problems through the lens of global citizenship, recognizing that human ingenuity is an unlimited resource.
CNN.com | November 1, 2011
In the current phase of globalization, financial, ecological, political and social crises are occurring simultaneously and magnifying each other in unpredictable ways. From the Fukushima nuclear meltdown reshaping German politics and the European power industry, to America’s sub-prime mortgage meltdown threatening the Eurozone, such chain reactions are undermining an already fragile stability.
TechCrunch TV | October 24, 2011
Yes, we know that technology entrepreneurs are revolutionizing media, healthcare, education, energy, even government. But what about the ancient art of diplomacy? Can entrepreneurs – and, in particular, Internet entrepreneurs – help us run the world more effectively?
New America Foundation | October 19, 2011
Parag Khanna discusses the potential pitfalls of trying to predict the future of energy technology and how we will consume energy at the event, “What Will Turn Us On in 2030?: Competing With Fossil Fuels to Power the Future.”
Singapore Futures Group | October 2011
The Futures Group of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has sponsored this clever FGAnimate video on the complex chain reactions in today’s global economy.
Financial Times | October 18, 2011
By James Crabtree
The 4,500 residents of the sleepy Italian island of Lampedusa are a community under siege. Lying only 180 miles north-west of Libya, they have found themselves at the epicentre of an international crisis as Italy struggles to cope with more than 52,000 migrants who have arrived from north Africa this year, sparking a political outcry that has rever-berated across Europe.
CNN.com | October 12, 2011
By Parag Khanna
Times Square will not turn into Tahrir Square anytime soon, despite the very interesting parallels between the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Arab Spring recently laid out by Joshua Keating in Foreign Policy.
CNN.com | October 7, 2011
On the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans are searching for a new narrative to understand their country’s role in the world. But far more than declared principles or personalities, America’s place in the world is shaped by what it does in other places. Especially overseas, societies judge us by our actions rather than our words.
The Atlantic | September 21, 2011
By Parag Khanna and Mahanth Joishy
By now everyone knows the acronym “BRICS,” which formally stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but informally has come to refer to dozens of so-called emerging markets whose natural resources and trade surpluses are making them the center of geo-economic competition.
International Herald Tribune | September 8, 2011
By Parag Khanna and Mark Leonard
Of all the formulations deployed in recent years to describe the emerging world order, G-2 is probably the worst and most dangerous.
The Atlantic | September 5, 2011
In the decade since September 2001, why is the U.S. still reacting to events rather than planning ahead, separating challenges instead of connecting them, and pretending we’ll live in a unipolar world forever?
Schweizer Monat | September 2011
NGOs und multinationale Unternehmen verdrängen die traditionelle Diplomatie der Staaten, sagt Parag Khanna. Wie reagieren Nationalstaaten und supranationale Grossorganisationen auf diese Entwicklung? Ein Gespräch über die neuen Diplomaten, ein byzantinisches Amerika und chinesischen Strassenbau.
openDemocracy | August 30, 2011
Meaningful stakeholders in the collective, each becoming reasonable people of goodwill – this is the model for successfully living with the identitarianisms that will otherwise tear our future apart. This applies as much to multi-ethnic Europe as the Gulf States or Singapore.
NPR Marketplace | August 26, 2011
The U.S. participation in the Libyan conflict has been described as “leading from behind.” Europe took a larger role in helping the revolution.
Watch the video trailer for “How to Run the World,” the book that predicts a generation of youth-led revolts across the globe, captures a new era of competition among economic and political models, and champions the new coalitions among governments, companies and civil society that can tackle our most pressing challenges.
Foreign Policy | August 18, 2011
The couple that predicted the world we live in today.
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
Foreign Policy | September-October 2011
What will the world look like in 2025? Much like today, only faster, driven by more complex diplomacy, high-risk economic density, a whole new kind of destructive proliferation — and robot chauffeurs.
CNBC | August 1, 2011
Parag Khanna discusses the prospects for continued uprising in Syria during Ramadan and the current reform process in Egypt. There is not likely to be a Western military intervention in Syria. The unfolding “Arab Spring” will take years to play out, with differential trajectories among resource-rich monarchies, resource-poor monarchies, resource-rich non-monarchies, and resource-poor non-monarchies. The prospects for long-term growth are good in the Arab world if more accountable governments come into power and investors focus on infrastructure and job creation. This is a moment of “healthy chaos.”
Workplace Now | August 2011
Total Globalization is the fifth stage of globalization – it’s the point at which things truly become global. Up until that point the world’s largest 20 economies had dominated trade, but now the other 180 economies are becoming far more active and the trade balance is shifting towards what were once regarded as non-core economies. This shift has enormous implications for all of us and is not driven by a single power. Total Globalization began in 1995 with the widespread availability of information technologies like the internet and mobiles.
The Agenda | August 1, 2011
Appearing on TV Ontario’s “The Agenda,” Parag Khanna discusses the global competition among political and economic models, the “next best thing” approach to countries such as Afghanistan and Egypt, why the “India model” is thriving across the post-colonial world, and how collaborative governance among public and private sectors is the key to successful leadership.
London | June 7, 2011
Innovation, Trends and Thought Leadership are the backbone of every industry, whether it be the Web, Mobile, Creative or Social Entrepreneurship. Over two days in June 2011, we are bringing together some of the most brilliant minds in Technology, Creativity and Entrepreneurship from across the world to the heart of Europe’s exploding tech and creative scene in London.
CNBC Asia | July 22, 2011
Parag appears on CNBC Asia from Singapore to discuss the recent ASEAN Summit and ASEAN-China relations.
Channel News Asia | July 22, 2011
How do you solve the world’s problems like war, human rights abuses, environmental devastation and financial disaster? Well, author Parag Khanna thinks he has the answers and explains all in his new book, “How to Run the World.” The adventurer-scholar, named by Esquire Magazine as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century, joins us in our studio to share his perspective.
Knowledge@Wharton | July 13, 2011
Stephen J. Kobrin, Wharton management professor and publisher of Wharton Digital Press, recently spoke with Khanna about his latest book, How to Run the World, the emergence of a postmodern Middle Ages, why mega-diplomacy is critical, and his views on the Middle East, including Gaddafi and the conflict in the Libya.
Booz & Co. | July 2011
The Gulf Cooperation Council, consisting of six dynamic yet relatively small economies, is in an excellent position to realize the benefits of economic integration. This Ideation Center Insight analyzes integration efforts in the GCC along five dimensions: a monetary union; customs and borders; intra-regional investment; joint infrastructure; and knowledge cooperation.
June 23, 2011 | Toronto, Canada
Humankind is at a turning point in its relationship to technology. As we enter the “Hybrid Age,” characterized by deep human-to-technology interactions, cities are poised to embrace emerging technologies in a push toward sustainable economic growth and innovation. In this presentation, futurists Ayesha and Parag Khanna describe the evolution of smart cities based on their travels to high-tech urban centres from Portugal to Sweden to South Korea. They will highlight new technologies related to urban efficiency and sustainability, and elaborate on new models of governance for smart cities.
Conversations with History | April 13, 2011
Harry Kreisler welcomes author Parag Khanna, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, to discuss his new book, “How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance.” Khanna analyzes the complex ecosystem created by globalization and how a new diplomacy has become the defining feature of international interactions.
TIME | June 23, 2011
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
Call it recycling opportunity. After their failed bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympics, Stockholm city leaders decided to turn a would-be sports village in the Hammarby Sjostad district into one of the world’s most successful eco-villages. The practices of powering buses with biogas, recycling rainwater for irrigation and using organic waste for fertilizer spread to other districts of Sweden’s largest city. Today the city’s water is so clean that fishermen actually stand on bridges in the central business district, catching fresh salmon and trout.
C-SPAN | February 7, 2011
At the Robert S. Strauss Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Parag Khanna argues that the modern era resembles the Middle Ages in terms of international relations. He says that it is possible to usher in a new Renaissance if we take advantage of our interconnectedness.
Saudi Aramco World | May/June 2011
Interview with Tom Verde
The Middle Ages was a very long period of history, from the fall of Rome to the fall of Constantinople. A thousand years are captured by this phrase, “the Middle Ages.”
Foreign Policy |May 24, 2011
By Parag Khanna
After more than 50 years of running Singapore, its octogenarian leader is stepping aside. Can the island nation stay prosperous and peaceful as democratic storms begin to blow?
DevelopmentEx.com | May 13, 2011
Interview with Oliver Subasinghe
Ambassadors, mercenaries, pontiffs and traders were key actors during the dark and transformative Middle Ages. What does that time have in common with today?
L’Agefi | May 12, 2011
Interview with Sebastian Ruche
Pourquoi la révolution arabe va se propager. Comment la mégadiplomatie gouverne le monde. Pourquoi tuer Kadhafi.
The New York Times | May 10, 2011
By Parag Khanna
The U.S.-Pakistan relationship is a microcosm of international relations more broadly: talking about change has little correlation to actually achieving it.
TIME | May 2, 2011
By Ayesha and Parag Khanna
On April 5, Luciano Ducci, the mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, boarded the world’s largest urban bus on its inaugural ride across town, marking yet another coup for the city’s transportation system. Powered exclusively by biofuels (made from soybeans), the 92-ft.-long (28 m) megabus can carry 250 passengers at a time and makes just four stops along a 6-mile (10 km) route. With a projected fleet of 24 vehicles, the system will ferry an average of 25,000 people per day.
CNN.com | May 2, 2011
By Parag Khanna
In the decade since 9/11, many senior al Qaeda leaders and operatives have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere, yet still all of these countries remain fragile at best and collapsed at worst.
Foreign Policy | April 20, 2011
By Parag Khanna
Forget Gamal Abdel Nasser. The time for Arab unity is now.
Arabs are learning to solve their own problems. For the first time in more than 500 years, the convulsions rippling across the Arab world cannot be blamed on Ottoman conquest, European imperialism, American hegemony, or Israeli bullying.
NPR Marketplace | April 7, 2011
Millions of dollars will be spent rebuilding the Middle East. Arab countries can play a vital role in funding those projects.
BloggingHeads TV | April 5, 2011
Robert Wright and Parag Khanna discuss whether nation-states are passe, whether Gaddafi can be legally assassinated, how the postmodern world resembles the Middle Ages, how to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and better ways to fight global warming than treaties.
Fortune | March 29, 2011
Foreign policy wunderkind Parag Khanna says revolutions in the Middle East could mean good things for the world – and for business.
CNN American Morning | March 28, 2011
President Obama will address the nation about Operation Odyssey Dawn and the U.S.’s involvement in military action there Monday evening. Parag Khanna is a Senior Fellow at the non-partisan think tank, The New American Foundation, and is the author of “How to Run the World”. Khanna talks to American Morning about the latest developments out of Libya and what Operation Odyssey Dawn means for American politics.
Intelligence Squared | March 22, 2011
Conventional wisdom tells us that a new star will rise in the East, and over the past decade all eyes have been looking towards China or India to witness the emergence of the 21st century’s new superpower. But if the three key elements for a strong and powerful economy are democracy, economic growth and low inflation then neither of those would-be giants makes the grade. So perhaps we should all do an about-turn. Look West, young man!
BigThink.com | March 22, 2011
Parag Khanna leads a distinguished panel on the future of economic competition. This segment asks how America can invest in education, infrastructure and research at a time of fiscal austerity.
BigThink.com | March 21, 2011
Parag Khanna leads a distinguished panel on the future of economic competition. The first topic in this series asks the question of who is to blame for the ongoing global economic downturn.
Vision (Dubai) | Spring 2011
The emerging geopolitical and economic consensus is that the 21st century will no longer be dominated by nations such as America, Brazil and China, but, instead, by so-called global cities such as Dubai.
TANK | Spring 2011
By Shumon Basar
“Colonies were once conquered, now countries are bought.” So says Parag Khanna, author of the new book How
to Run the World. It’s not a manual for James Bond-style megalomaniacs, nor is it expert advice on long-distance marathons. It’s the follow-up to Khanna’s first treatise on “late globalisation,” The Second World (2008), in which he defined this term as applying to a nation that exhibits both first- and third-world characteristics simultaneously.
Business Times (Singapore) | March 5, 2011
By Leon Hadar
International relations scholar and author Parag Khanna talks about geopolitics and identity in the post-post-modern world.
Times of India | February 27, 2011
Parag Khanna, author of How to Run the World, says India needs to worry about corruption, the Naxal problem, its youth bulge without jobs to match — not China.
Harvard Business Review | February 22, 2011
By Parag Khanna
What do Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, and Nigeria all have in common? They are very populous, Muslim-majority countries, all facing constant political unrest and on the brink of collapse. And yet they are also all part of Goldman Sachs’ “Next Eleven,” the much-anticipated extension of its fabled category of “BRICs” — comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
Forbes.com | February 21, 2011
By Elmira Bayrasli
In How To Run the World, Parag Khanna envisions a new world order. Business and entrepreneurship are no longer the maligned enemy of social good, but an “indispensable” public partner. In fact, Khanna, a fellow on American strategy at the New America Foundation, says, boardrooms are the new diplomatic outposts and military bases. Hence it is necessary for “CEOs to know as much as diplomats about the world and its various elements – they can’t rely on embassies to act on its behalf anymore – and those that know this are those that are succeeding.”
CBS | February 19, 2011
Parag Khanna, author of “How to Run the World,” explained to Russ Mitchell how the protests and civil unrest is spreading throughout the Middle East and what it means for the U.S.
PBS | February 18, 2011
Bestselling author Parag Khanna is hard to pin down. He’s raced 8,000 miles from London to Mongolia in the Mongolia Charity Rally, served in the foreign policy advisory group for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and he’s been dubbed a global futurist and an adventurer-scholar.
CNN | February 14, 2011
How should America engage in Egypt after the ouster of its long standing ally Hosni Mubarak? Parag advocates a mega-diplomacy approach in which the U.S. makes friends with all players in the new Egyptian political spectrum, including the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups, and uses its companies, NGOs, universities, and other domestic resources to build partnerships that advance the development of the Egyptian economy and society.
February 15, 2011
Two cartoons capture the mood in Egypt today. The first asks whether democracy or theocracy will replace autocracy in the country. The second depicts Hosni Mubarak himself replacing the stolen King Tut statue from the Egyptian Museum.
Huffintgton Post | February 14, 2011
What others want for themselves is more important than what we want for them — always.
As the daily drama of street demonstrations, shuttle diplomacy, and backroom deals has unfolded in Egypt over the past three weeks, the Obama administration gradually shifted its stance from standing by the side of now former president Hosni Mubarak — as so many presidents before Obama have done — to accepting and encouraging his incremental concessions to the demands of the Egyptian people.
The Daily | February 12, 2011
By Parag Khanna
Egypt will need America’s help to reach true democracy.
CNN.com | February 10, 2011
The high expectations of protesters in Tahrir Square turned to fury Thursday after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak delivered a speech in which he made no mention of leaving office before his term ends in September. Crowds had swarmed the square for hours as speculation grew that Mubarak was stepping aside after 30 years in power. They heard instead from the president that he was “delegating power” to Vice President Omar Suleiman. Now the focus shifts to Friday, one of two regular protest days (the other is Tuesday) on the demonstrators’ weekly schedule.
DNA India | January 29, 2011
By Uttara Chaudhary
One of India’s leading daily newspapers profiles Parag Khanna on his new book “How to Run the World,” India’s challenges in Kashmir, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the role of Generation-Y in the future of diplomacy.
Al Jazeera | February 3, 2011
As the Egyptian crisis continues, Parag Khanna discusses shifting U.S. policy towards Hosni Mubarak, scenarios for the next Egyptian regime, and the role of youth in promoting accountability.
Foreign Policy | February 3, 2011
By Parag Khanna
It seems that every autocratic regime that Washington has backed for decades — save for the monarchies of the Persian Gulf — is on the outs.
CNN.com | February 1, 2011
By Parag Khanna
The Arab upheaval, which has been compared to the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall, challenges not only the regimes that are falling, but also more fundamentally the entire Arab order that has held since the decolonization of three generations ago. We are witnessing the triumph of people power over the inertia of political power.
The Daily Beast | February 1, 2011
By Parag Khanna
The ouster of President Hosni Mubarak will not set off a domino effect in the region, Parag Khanna says. But the revolt in Egypt clearly shows the U.S. should back the promise of the Egypt’s next generation.
Bloomberg News | January 31, 2011
Parag Khanna discusses the unfolding upheaval in Egypt with Pimm Fox.
Foreign Policy | January 28, 2011
By Parag Khanna
Yes, it’s where the elite come to mingle and celebrate their success. But it’s also where real things happen that are good for the new global commons.
The Economist | January 27, 2011
SOME books about global politics charge at you full tilt, brandishing a radical idea for changing the world. Others pick their way through the nettles. The romantic in every reader yearns for a new order to sweep aside the impediments of the old. The sceptic knows that life is complicated. Both sorts of books have their strengths, but—on the evidence of two new accounts of 21st-century power—caution has the upper hand just now.
The Wall Street Journal | January 24, 2011
By Parag Khanna
The last year or two have witnessed no shortage of silver-bullet rhetoric to deal with the world’s most pressing challenges. A global economic “G-2” of the U.S. and China was proposed to sort out the imbalances between savings and deficit countries; the United Nations General Assembly devoted several days in September to the “Millennium Development Goals” that address hunger, poverty, and other socio-economic ills; grand summits were held in Copenhagen and Cancun to craft a global climate treaty; and experts spoke of a “Grand Bargain” to freeze Iran’s nuclear program.
TIME | January 31, 2011
By Parag Khanna
In one of the most memorable scenes in cinema, Orson Welles’ Harry Lime rides the giant Viennese Ferris wheel in the 1949 classic The Third Man and muses, “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love; they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
Reuters.com | January 21, 2011
Interview with Katherine Herrup
I spoke with Parag Khanna, author of “How to Run the World” and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, about global imbalances and creating better corporate citizens. The following are some excerpts of our conversation.
Swiss Style | January 2011
Profile by Jean Francois Begun
Henry Kissinger once said that, “You do not design a new world order as an emergency measure.
But you need an emergency to bring about a new world order.” Quite poignant words given today’s environment, where we seem to be hurtling toward a perfect storm of energy consumption,
population growth and food and water insufficiencies.
Asia Times | January 22, 2011
By Pepe Escober
Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation describes Parag Khanna as a “global futurist”. Now that’s a sterling job. Even apart from the obviously sexy Isaac Asimov overtones, this entails crisscrossing the planet identifying future trends and getting paid for it. On the other hand, it’s true that an array of single-minded wonks slumped in their think-tank chairs also love to deploy this job description. That’s certainly not the case with Khanna – a young, dynamic, hyper-connected insider who’s actually been all over the world armed with a good education, and has a sense of history, no prejudice, an open mind and delightful conversational skills.
NPR “Talk of the Nation” | January 20, 2011
Millions of people in southern Sudan hope to soon become citizens of a new country. The New America Foundation’s Parag Khanna says the world will be more peaceful if other minority groups worldwide realize their own aspirations for statehood.
CNN.com | January 20, 2011
By Parag Khanna
Since the WikiLeaks scandal exploded at the end of last year, many commentators have declared this episode marks “the end of diplomacy.” Nonsense. For almost two centuries, even world leaders have feared that communications technology would marginalize diplomacy’s special role in international relations.
CNN | January 13, 2011
The author of “How to Run the World” talks to CNN’s Errol Barnett about geopolitics and globalization. He discusses instability in Iraq, the break-up of Sudan, and the need to re-map post-colonial regions.
Forbes.com | January 2011
Lux Capital CEO Josh Wolfe interviews Parag Khanna on his new book How to Run the World. Their conversation covers issues such as the turbulent relations between the public and private sectors, the competition among various economic models from America to Europe to China, and the “Giving Pledge” spearheaded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
Foreign Policy | January 13, 2011
By Parag Khanna
Southern Sudan is just the beginning. The world may soon have 300 independent, sovereign nations … and that’s just fine.
The Daily Beast | January 2011
By Parag Khanna
President Obama’s foreign policy is confused and distracted, says Parag Khanna, but the solution is greater engagement in helping Southeast Asia and Africa defend their own interests.
What Matters (McKinsey) | January 2011
By Parag Khanna
Most people in the world have probably seen the famous photograph of the Earth taken from the Apollo 17 mission on December 7, 1972. Spanning a swath of the globe from the Mediterranean Sea to the southern polar ice cap, the image features lovely white cloud swirls over the grand African continental massif. Much has changed since that photo was snapped.
CNBC| January 6, 2011
By Gloria McDonough-Taub
Parag Khanna was recently named by Esquire magazine one of the “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century”, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google says, “We need to pay attention to his ideas” and Nicholas Nassim Taleb, author of “THE BLACK SWAN” says, “Parag Khanna has vision.”
By Parag Khanna
The Huffiington Post | January 3, 2011
“Doing more with less” is an axiom of this age of frugality. Budgets are being cut and programs slashed even at the all-mighty Pentagon. Yet this is perhaps the greatest window of opportunity America has had in two decades to shift away from its astoundingly costly and questionably effective military-industrial complex towards an approach more suited to a multidimensional, globalized world: a diplomatic-industrial complex.
By Parag Khanna
Financial Times | December 28, 2010
Imagine a world with a strong China reshaping Asia; India confidently extending its reach from Africa to Indonesia; Islam spreading its influence; a Europe replete with crises of legitimacy; sovereign city-states holding wealth and driving innovation; and private mercenary armies, religious radicals and humanitarian bodies playing by their own rules as they compete for hearts, minds and wallets.
BBC World | December 23, 2010
Parag Khanna discusses the Obama administration’s December 2010 Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategic Review and prospects for success in 2011.
By Parag Khanna and Karim Makdisi
Foreign Policy | December 22, 2010
Emerging countries deserve the World Cup, but FIFA needs to get its act together to make sure that the global showcase doesn’t do more harm than good.
By Ian Bremmer and Parag Khanna
International Herald Tribune | December 22, 2010
2010 was the year that removed all doubt that cybersecurity is now a geopolitical problem.
The Huffington Post | December 15, 2010
This past June, I organized a private breakfast meeting for Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, in a hotel salon in Islamabad, Pakistan.
December 2010
Lebanon prides itself on being the only country in the world where one can ski and relax on the beach in the same day. But this year has brought no snowfall.
Foreign Policy | December 2010
The multipolar moment has arrived — and it’s nothing like Americans imagined.
BBC World | November 24, 2010
Parag Khanna discusses the growing NATO military activity in Afghanistan and the controversial results of the Afghan parliamentary elections.
Foreign Policy | September/October 2010
The age of nations is over. The new urban age has begun.
Wall Street Journal | Fall 2010
Parag Khanna discusses the balance of world powers and what America must do to innovate and stay competitive globally.
TIME | March 12, 2010
One of TIME magazine’s “10 Ideas for the Next 10 Years”
Political borders remain among the most fundamental obstacles to human progress around the world.
