Skip to main content

Kishore Mahbubani

Kishore Mahbubani

32 commentaries

Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, is the author of Living the Asian Century: An Undiplomatic Memoir (PublicAffairs, 2024), Has China Won? (PublicAffairs, 2020), and the open-access book The Asian 21st Century, which has been downloaded more than 3.3 million times since its release in January 2022.

Sort by: Show:
  1. Kishore Mahbubani on the US-China rivalry, Asian security risks, and more
    Rodrik_Say-More_Rawf8-via-GettyRF

    Kishore Mahbubani on the US-China rivalry, Asian security risks, and more

    Sep 10, 2024 Kishore Mahbubani offers advice to Western diplomats attempting to engage with Asia, identifies risks to the region’s stability, highlights Singapore’s lessons for developing-country leaders, and more.

  2. Anwar Ibrahim’s Quiet Triumph
    mahbubani30_Sadiq AsyrafGetty Images_anwar Sadiq Asyraf/Getty Images

    Anwar Ibrahim’s Quiet Triumph

    Nov 2, 2023 Kishore Mahbubani shows how the Malaysian prime minister could stabilize the country and ensure the continued success of ASEAN.

  3. How Asia Keeps the Peace
    mahbubani29_Sonny TumbelakaAFP via Getty Images SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images

    How Asia Keeps the Peace

    Jun 12, 2023 Kishore Mahbubani considers why the region has avoided the kind of wars that keep exploding on Europe's doorstep.

  4. The Hard-Won Benefits of Soft Diplomacy
    mahbubani28_Kay Nietfeldpicture alliance via Getty Image_jokowidodobideng20 Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images

    The Hard-Won Benefits of Soft Diplomacy

    Dec 8, 2022 Kishore Mahbubani praises Indonesia's more consultative and culturally attuned approach to international affairs.

  5. The Lose-Lose Tech War
    op_mahbubani1_ FENG LIAFPGettyImages_us china tech war FENG LI/AFP/GettyImages

    The Lose-Lose Tech War

    May 20, 2022 Kishore Mahbubani & Tony Chan worry that politics is getting in the way of the cooperation needed to advance science and tackle global problems.

  1. galbraith39_rudall30Getty Images_businessmanforest rudall30/Getty Images

    Economists’ Way Out of the Wilderness

    James K. Galbraith argues that the continued dominance of nineteenth-century thinking has resulted in a catalogue of failure.
  2. benami221_Justin SullivanGetty Images_trump Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    Trump the Revolutionary Isolationist

    Shlomo Ben-Ami

    America's president subscribes to a brand of isolationism that has waxed and waned throughout US history, but has its roots in the two-century-old Monroe Doctrine. This is bad news for nearly everyone, because it implies acceptance of a world order based on spheres of influence, as envisioned by China and Russia.

    hears echoes of the Monroe Doctrine in the US president's threats to acquire Greenland.
  3. hubbard4_Chen MengtongChina News ServiceVCG via Getty Images_scottbessent Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images

    How the Trump Administration Can Hit Its Growth Target

    Glenn Hubbard urges policymakers to focus on the three pillars of increased productivity.
  4. oneill129_Saul LoebGettyImages_us_treasury Saul Loeb/Getty Images

    Trump’s First Test Will Be the Bond Market

    Jim O'Neill

    Financial markets and official economic indicators over the past few weeks give policymakers around the world plenty to contemplate. Was the recent spike in bond yields a sufficient warning to Donald Trump and his team, or will they still follow through with inflationary stimulus, tariff, and immigration policies?

    wonders if recent market signals will keep the new administration’s radicalism in check.
  5. ahzhang19_Jaap ArriensNurPhoto via Getty Images_tiktok Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

    The TikTok Boomerang

    Angela Huyue Zhang thinks the US government's ban on the app has left it in an untenable position.
  6. delaney1_Jose JimenezGettyImages_bahamas_dorian Jose Jimenez/Getty Images

    Turning the Financial Tide for Small Island States

    Maya Delaney & Aminath Shauna tout the potential of green and blue bonds to protect critical ecosystems and build economic resilience.
  7. brown116_Timur MatahariGettyImages_indonesia_free_school_meals Timur Matahari/Getty Images

    School Meals Provide Food for Thought – and Fuel for Development

    Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins tout universal nutrition programs in lower-income countries to mitigate a lost decade for poor children.
  8. karl3_Apu GomesGetty Images_LAfires Apu Gomes/Getty Images

    A House Gutted by Fire

    Terry Lynn Karl blames the inferno now consuming Los Angeles County squarely on greenhouse-gas emissions.
  9. op_janeway17_Natalya KosarevichGetty Images_moneyhandslightbulb Natalya Kosarevich/Getty Images

    False Economies

    William H. Janeway highlights the high cost of the single-minded focus on efficiency that has come to dominate the discipline.

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification

To receive email updates regarding this {entity_type}, please enter your email below.

If you are not already registered, this will create a PS account for you. You should receive an activation email shortly.