The Second World - UChannel podcast review

Parag Khanna was invited at the University of Chicago to speak about the new global order. This connects with his recent book: The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order. Khanna elegantly resuscitates the term Second World. What once was the Soviet block and distinguished thus from the Capitalist Block and the poor Third World, in his mind, actually still exists. The lecture was recently podcast at the University Channel Podcast (also known as UChannel).

There still are many states, at various advanced stages of development, that neither can be put in the block with the US, nor can they be written off in the Third World section, where we gather the lost, hopeless and failed states. These are the states that thrive in the modern new balance of power in which they play all sides.

The US is no longer the world's hyper-power. It shares super power status with others, notably with rising China, but according to Khanna also the EU. Other economies come in second place as balancing powers: Brazil, Japan, India and so on. They and especially yet another group, make up the second world. Khanna traveled around and analyzed them. Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and Libya and observes their new way to success: playing all sides. Hiking along with not just either US, EU or China, but with all of them. As I listen I thought: I hope Israel does the same.

More UChannel:
Repairing Failed States,
The Collapse (Republicans and America),
New Map for the Pentagon,
Slavery and the Supply Chain,
Iran 2009.

More Parag Khanna:
The end of Hegemony.