For much of the twentieth century, Europe dominated global attention. Two world wars were won and lost onits battle fields, and the great ideological struggles of the Cold War were played out in its cities. The Atlantic Ocean was the locus of international power. This is no longer the case, as bestselling author Robert D. Kaplan deftly proves in Monsoon. He shows how the rise of India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Burma and Oman, among others, represents a crucial shift in the global balance of power.
It is in ‘Monsoon Asia’ that the fight for democracy, energy independence and religious freedom will be lost or won. It is here that European interests are being replaced by Chinese and Indian influences, and where the often tense dialogue is taking place between Islam and the West. It is towards this region that global powers need to shift their focus if they are to remain dominant in the new century.
‘Kaplan is a good writer, and his strategic ideas have always been infused with a sense of adventure…a very important book indeed.’ —the Monthly
‘Kaplan … inculcates a paradigm shift when he suggests that the site of twenty-first-century geopolitical significance will be the Indian Ocean, not the northern Atlantic … The book’s political and economic focus and forecasts are smart and brim with aperçus on the intersection of power, politics, and resource consumption (especially water), and give full weight to the impact of colonialism. An ambitious and prescient study.’ —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Robert D. Kaplan is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington and national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly. He was recently the Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. His previous twelve books include Balkan Ghosts, Eastward to Tartary and Warrior Politics.
