李光耀觀天下

overview

In this book, Lee draws on that wealth of experience and depth of insight to offer his views on today's world and what it might look like in 20 years. This is no dry geopolitical treatise. Nor is it a thematic account of the twists and turns in global affairs. Instead, in this broad-sweep narrative that takes in America, China, Asia and Europe, he parses their society, probes the psyche of the people and draws his conclusions about their chances for survival and just where they might land in the hierarchy of tomorrow's balance of power.

What makes a society tick? What do its people really believe? Can it adapt? In spare, unflinching prose that eschews political correctness, he describes a China that remains obsessed with control from the centre on its way to an unstoppable rise; an America that will have to share its pre-eminence despite its never-say-die dynamism; and a Europe that struggles with the challenges of keeping its union intact. His candid and often startling views on why Japan is closed to foreigners, why the Arab Spring won't bring one man, one vote to the Middle East, and why preventing global warming is not going to be as fruitful as preparing for it; make this a fresh and gripping read. Lee completes the book by looking into the future of Singapore, his enduring concern and by offering the reader a glimpse into his personal life and his view of death.

The book is interspersed with a Q&A section in each chapter, gleaned from conversations he had with journalists from The Straits Times.

contents

自序
推薦序
一、中國：一個強大的中央
二、美國：陷入困境但優勢仍在
三、歐洲：衰退與分歧
四、日本、南韓和印度
日本：走向平庸
南韓：偷天換日
印度：受種姓制度羈絆
五、東南亞
馬來西亞：分道揚鑣
印尼：偏離中央
泰國：甦醒的社會底層
越南：解不開的社會主義思維枷鎖
緬甸：將領改變路向
六、新加坡：處在十字路口
七、中東：春殘無夏
八、全球經濟：何去何從？
九、能源和氣候變化：做好最壞的打算
十、個人生活：選擇何時而去
十一、老朋友的對話