Product Description

The world is changing, as political and economic power shift further towards Asia. In this penetrating book Bill Emmott shows the ways in which our future will be dominated not by one, but by three Asian giants – China, India and a newly resurgent Japan. How will competition between the emergent great powers in the East affect the West? What will the potential benefits, tensions and danger zones be? Emmott, former editor of the Economist, is one of the world’s most authoritative international commentators. In Rivals he has written the essential book for understanding how this new power game will shape the twenty-first century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61480 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'Elegantly written and strong on economic analysis' - Malcolm Moore, Saturday Telegraph 'Remarkable for the clarity of its economic and historical analysis and the cogency of his arguments' - Victor Mallet, Financial Times 'Rivals is clever and concise' - Michael Sheridan, Sunday Times

About the Author
Bill Emmott was editor of the Economist from 1993 until 2006, where he presided over a doubling of the magazine's circulation. He has written six books on Japan, and, most recently, 20:21 Vision – 20th century lessons for the 21st century, published in February 2003 by Penguin. He is a member of the President's Council of the University of Tokyo, a director of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group, and co-chairman of the Canada-Europe Roundtable for Business. He has honorary degrees from Warwick and City Universities, and is an honorary fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Asian power games deciphered
The first half of the book was a little bit boring - too much information, that target reader would know already. Here are the reasons why the book was still a decent read:
- Hard back issue is beautiful, it was aesthetic pleasure to read it
- Well written, easy to read - the author is a former journalist after all
- Shows differences of Chinese thinking as compared to western one: patience, long time horizon etc
- Brings out historic events that bitter the present relations of the Asian titans
- Exposes the regional and global ambitions of China, India and Japan
- Outlines possible danger zones in Asia and scenarios that can lead to regional/global conflicts

historically imprecise
Bill Emmott explores one of the most interesting themes in contemporary international relations--how the rivalry between the big Asian powers of Japan, China, and India will change the existing balance of power. The book is full of information, quickly passing from economic to historical and philosophical considerations, and trying to fit them all together to deliver a unitary picture.

Unfortunately, this ambition of fitting too many things into the main account makes the book hard to read at times. The author sometimes carries off on side-issue which seem to be introduced mainly to show off the vastness of his knowledge, with little consideration for the reader. Finally, the book also seems to be written with a certain haste, containing logical structures that are hard to justify by the contents of the sentences, and that are not further explained in the text.

The worst part about the book however is the imprecision in some of the historical statements. Repeating the platitude of the European Communities being formed to prevent future wars may be forgivable in a book that has Asia as its main concern. Representing NATO as "expressly formed in opposition to the other half of Europe, the so-called Warsaw Pact" however is an unforgivable historical imprecision (the Warsaw Pact was formed only in 1955 as a reaction to West Germany joining NATO). Any student would be sent back to the books immediately for such a statement.

The sun rising in The East
Rivals by Bill Emmott

A Review by the Cote d'Azur Men's Book Club

The sleeping giants of the East are awakening and the world holds its collective breath because these are giants likely to economically enslave Europe and the Americas.

The USA already has the appearance of a very financially sick man and as we know, when America gets a cold the rest of the western world sneezes
Emmott a former Editor of The Economist takes an analytical look at the next ten years and assesses the power game and which eastern country will be the puppet master. He praises George W Bush for his strategic good sense in recruiting India to his nuclear energy programme.
This tilt of power sharing, some observers think, equalizes the balance of world domination, allowing the States and India to hold equal sway with the likes of China. Climate change is also back on the agenda, thanks to Bush's volte face, but a similar agreement with Beijing is more unlikely.
Then, there is Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, impassively looking across the ocean, the nation that has been the most aggressive nation of all over the past century with its demand for Asian sovereignty

Yet despite her woes, she is now a major economic power and growing in industrial might. History sets Nippon and China at each other's throats, and, it seems, in the future, instead of blood being spilt in Manchurian style massacres, balance sheets will replace bombs. Will Asia again be set against Asian?

This weighty book Rivals, How China, India and Japan will shape our next Decade, gives us chapter and verse in great detail, so much detail that g it can be somewhat tedious unless the reader is an Economist fan or a fully paid up accountant.

Members of the Book Club felt Rivals was one book too long, they felt t the written words were allowed to accelerate into some sort of academic warp speed.
One of our members snorted at the mere suggestion of proffering economic advice to world leaders. He said, "It is pure pie in the sky".
More than one person found the writing style dull, others felt as if they were reading a very lengthy article in the magazine Mr. Emmott once edited. Which country will be strongest in economic and strategic terms by 2020? Will nations on the other side of the world become one Asia?
The stakes, writes Mr. Emmott, are enormous. That at least seems to be a fact. What is also a fact is that the financial threat facing the world in 2009 is an urgent problem that must be resolved before we contemplate futuristic scenarios. It is all a question of priorities.