Chapter 2
“The Cup Runneth Over”
1. Explain the “Great Expansion” that Zakaria writes about in this
chapter.
2. Zakaria says that this expansion of the global economy is “not
an ephemeral phenomenon.” What does he mean by this? What
factors does Zakaria believe guarantee the magnitude and longterm nature of this global power shift?
3. Identify and explain the economic forces that have fueled the
expansion of the global economy since the 1980s.
4. Identify and explain the technological innovations that have
contributed to the expansion of the global economy. How has
technology created a “flat” world?
5. Identify and explain the key “problems of plenty” discussed by
Zakaria in this chapter.
6. Why does nationalism rise in emerging countries as they achieve
economic success? How might this rising nationalism impact the
ability of the world’s nation-states to address global concerns?
7. Explain this statement: “The world is moving from anger to
indifference, from anti-Americanism to post-Americanism.”
8. What are the problems with existing mechanisms of
international cooperation such as the UN Security Council, the
G-8, the IMF, and the World Bank?
9. How might the rise of nationalism make purposeful national
action more difficult?
10.
Why, according to Zakaria, is legitimacy important and
necessary in today’s world?
11.
How did the actions of both developed nations and nations
in the developing world contribute to the financial crisis of
2008? Explain the connection between the financial crisis and
the “rise of the rest.”
12.
How, in Zakaria’s opinion, did the financial crisis of 2008,
“hasten the move to a post-American world?”
13.
According to Zakaria, how will America’s role in the world
change in the new, emerging global order?
14.
Zakaria says there is a “growing gap between America’s
world business elite and cosmopolitan class, on the one hand,
and the majority of the American people, on the other.” What
does he mean by this?
15.
Summarize the concerns about public attitudes that are
expressed by Zakaria in the last few pages of this chapter. In
your opinion, are these legitimate concerns?
Chapter 3
“A Non-Western World?”
1. Does Zakaria agree with the common perception that the
dominance of the West over the non-Western world has been a
“200 year blip, and we are now returning to a more normal
balance?”
What evidence does Zakaria present to support his point of
view?
2. What is GDP and why can it be a misleading statistic when
comparing the economies of the West with those of India and
China?
3. What factors explain Western dominance over non-Western
nations over the past 500 years?
4. Explain the statement, “This was the tragedy of Asia: even when
there was knowledge, there was no learning.”
5. Zakaria states that a central question for the future is, “Can you
be modern without being Western?” Why is this question so
important?
6. Contemporary scholars such as Samuel P. Huntington have
argued that modernization and Westernization are wholly
distinct. According to Huntington, what are the characteristics of
a modern society? What are the qualities that make a society
Western?
7. Does Zakaria agree with Huntington? What are the key points
that Zakaria makes on the topic of modernization vs.
Westernization?
8. What differences does Zakaria see between the foreign policies
of Western and non-Western countries? What accounts for
these differences?
9. What does Zakaria mean when he says, “But as the modern
world expands and embraces more of the globe, modernity
becomes a melting pot?”
10.
What key points doe Zakaria make about the future in the
last paragraph of the chapter?
Chapter 4
“The Challenger”
1. Zakaria says that China “is negotiating the same two forces that
are defining the post-American world more broadly –
globalization and nationalism.” What does he mean?
2. Zakaria says that, since 1979, China has been, “pursuing a path
toward modernization that is ruthlessly pragmatic.” What does
that mean?
3. Summarize the results of China’s economic growth since Deng
Xiaoping’s speech in 1978.
4. True or False? China will soon replace the United States as the
world’s superpower. Explain.
5. Zakaria says that, for a regime that is ostensibly Communist,
(China) is astonishingly frank in its acceptance of capitalism.” In
what sense is China still Communist? In what sense has it
become capitalist?
6. Explain the environmental costs of China’s growth.
7. What does Zakaria identify as China’s greatest problem going
forward? Why is this a problem?
8. What is the historical connection between capitalism and
democracy? Is China’s experience following or defying this
trend? Explain.
9. Explain, in general terms, China’s approach to foreign policy –
and the U.S. -- since the 1980s. How does the more recent
debate among Chinese party leaders regarding the use of the
phrases, “peaceful rise” versus “peaceful development” to
describe China’s foreign policy illustrate this approach?
10.
How, according to Zakaria, have different views about God
shaped the foreign policy of China and countries influenced by
Christianity or Islam? Has China’s foreign policy over the past
few decades been generally oriented towards realism or
idealism?
11.
Explain China’s growing ties to Africa. What are the
possible ramifications of this?
12.
How, according to Zakaria, have China’s relations with its
neighbors in Asia been changing in recent years?
13.
How did China become America’s largest foreign creditor
by 2008? How has this development impacted both countries?
What is Zakaria’s view on this development?
14.
Zakaria says that, “Beijing and Washington are wise to try
and cooperate.” What argument does he make to explain why
he believes this?
15.
What argument does Zakaria make against the
neoconservative view that China poses a military threat to the
U.S.? Is this argument convincing?
16.
Explain China’s new foreign policy --- its “asymmetrical
strategy” – that Zakaria describes at the end of this chapter.
What challenges might this strategy pose for the United States?
Chapter 5
“The Ally”
1.What questions does the rise of India pose for foreign observers?
2.Compare and contrast India’s rise with China’s.
3.Zakaria says that, “If demography is destiny, India’s future is
secure.” Explain what he means by this.
4.Why does Zakaria say that India will never be the “next China?”
What does this have to do with the different types of
governments that these two rising powers have?
5.Explain how India’s “human capital” provides India with an
advantage that isn’t shared by most other developing nations.
6.Why does Zakaria say that in India, “consumer is king?”
7.What advantages does India have today because of the system of
government put in place when India was under British rule?
8.What problems faced by India today can be blamed on its
government?
9.What does Zakaria identify as, “the central paradox of India
today?”
10.
Describe India’s foreign policy during the Cold War. How
did this impact India’s economy?
11.
Describe India’s foreign policy since the end of the Cold
War.
12.
How do Indians feel about the United States today? Why
does Zakaria say that “Indians understand America” and
“Americans understand India?”
13.
Describe relations between the governments of India and
the United States today.
14.
How does Hinduism affect India’s world view? How does
this world view impact India’s foreign policy?
15.
India is a nation with nuclear weapons. What is the
primary motivation behind India’s nuclear aspirations?
16.
What is Zakaria’s assessment of India as a future global
power?
17.
At the end of the chapter, Zakaria summarizes the
advantages that make India a rising power. What are these
advantages?
Chapter 6
“American Power”
1. According to Zakaria, what was the main reason the British
Empire declined? What lessons might the U.S. learn from
Britain’s experience?
2. Does Zakaria believe that the U.S. is on the same path to
“irreversible decline” as Britain was a century ago? Explain.
3. What points does Zakaria make to illustrate U.S. military
dominance in the world today?
4. What points does Zakaria make to illustrate America’s economic
strengths today?
5. What is the “smiley curve” and how does it illustrate how the
U.S. benefits from globalization?
6. What points does Zakaria make in response to a much publicized
report in 2005 which said that
in 2004 China graduated 600,000 engineers, India 350,000, and
the U.S. only 70,000?
7. What are the key points that Zakaria makes about the quality of
higher education in India and China? Why do so many students
from these countries leave to study abroad?
8. According to Zakaria, what is America’s “best industry?” Why
does he believe this? What statistics does Zakaria cite in his
assessment of the quality of higher education in the United
States?
9. According to Zakaria, what is the most important problem facing
America’s schools today?
10.
According to Zakaria, what is the most important strength
of American schools?
11.
What does Zakaria identify as America’s “secret weapon”
that makes it “demographically vibrant” and gives it a “crucial
advantage” over most of the rest of the world? In what important
ways does this secret weapon benefit the U.S.?
12.
Despite its strengths, what does Zakaria identify as the six
most serious macroeconomic problems facing the United States
today?
13.
In the section of the chapter, “Everyone is Playing the
Game,” Zakaria says, But now everyone is playing America’s
game, and playing to win.” What does he mean by this and what
are the things he argues we need to do in order to remain
competitive in today’s world?
14.
What are the main points that Zakaria makes about how
technology and globalization are impacting America’s middle
class today? In what sense is the middle class in the U.S. being
“hollowed out?”
15.
Why does Zakaria describe American politics as “highly
dysfunctional?” What are the key problems with the American
political system that Zakaria argues need to be addressed?
Chapter 7
“American Purpose”
1. What is the main way that the world has changed since
America’s “Roman moment” in the summer of 2002?
2. Summarize the change in America’s approach to the world that
took place during the post-Cold War presidencies of George
H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
3. Explain the impact of 9-11 on both the substance and the style of
American foreign policy during the presidency of George W.
Bush.
4. What, according to Zakaria were the consequences of the Bush
administration’s “imperial” style?
5. What does Zakaria mean when he says that, “For most of the
world, the Iraq War was not about Iraq?”
6. How did the neoconservative writer, Robert Kagan, explain
European and American differences over multilateral
cooperation? What counterpoints does Zakaria make in
response to Kagan’s arguments?
7. In the chapter section, “New Rules for a New Age,” how does
Zakaria compare the time we live in now with the world that
America dominated after World War II?
8. What is the “task” that Zakaria believes must be undertaken by
Barack Obama and future U.S. presidents?
9. How is the new, future, world role that Zakaria envisions for
America different from the traditional superpower role that
America has played since the end of World War II?
10.
What does Zakaria mean when he says that, “there is still a
strong market for American power.”
Is Zakaria referring to America’s hard or soft power? Explain.
11.
Summarize each of the “six simple quidelines” that Zakaria
lays out for the United States in the new world we face today.
12.
What does Zakaria mean when he says, at the start of this
chapter’s last section, that the United States needs to “stop
cowering in fear, and that “too many Americans have been taken
in by a rhetoric of fear?” Who does he blame for this
atmosphere of fear?
13.
Explain this statement by Zakaria:
“Whether on terrorism, trade, immigration, or internationalism
of any kind, the political dynamic in the United States these days
is to hunker down.”
What evidence does he provide to support this statement?
14.
What is Zakaria’s answer to the above? What advice does
he give to Americans in the closing paragraphs of this book? Do
you agree?