mahbubani

Kishore Mahbubani, dean of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, has been a prophet of that decline.

Despite Mahbubani's confidence, those questions are not so easy to answer.

The recent flurry of Asia-Pacific summits is, indeed, a clear sign of the shifting global balance, as Kishore Mahbubani rightly points out.

Mahbubani argues that the West needs to adopt Asia's results-oriented attitude toward government intervention in economies.

Still, Mahbubani heaps too much scorn on the West without taking Asia to task for its own missteps .

Mr Mahbubani offers no evidence for his assertion that the West is unhappy about Asian success.

Mahbubani's criticisms of the west are often trenchant and valid.

The first problem with this argument is shown by Mr Mahbubani's inclusion of Japan as a Western economy.

Asia, as Mr Mahbubani says, was concentrating on the real economy, busily making consumer electronics, machine tools and container ships.

Another point Mahbubani makes concerns Asian capitalism and social welfare.

Mr Mahbubani's argument is also, however, that Asia has been much better at keeping the peace in its region.

In big-picture terms, Mahbubani is weighing in on that great debate overhow to fix capitalism.

" My sense is that it will catch up , " Mr Mahbubani says .

Mahbubani's belief, apparently, is that Asia shows us an interventionist state is the way to go.