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New Book by Graham Allison and Robert Blackwill Explores Global Insights of “Grand Master” Lee Kuan Yew

| February 1, 2013

Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World" - Published Today

For Immediate Release: February 1, 2013

CAMBRIDGE, MA – When Lee Kuan Yew speaks, who listens? Presidents, prime ministers, chief executives, and all who care about global strategy.

Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill, two leading strategic thinkers, asked Lee Kuan Yew the toughest questions that matter most to thoughtful Americans weighing the challenges of the next quarter century. The result is their new book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World – published today by MIT Press.

Drawing on their in-depth interviews with Lee as well as his voluminous writings and speeches, the authors, with assistance from Belfer Center associate Ali Wyne, extract the essence of Lee’s visionary thinking. The questions and answers that constitute the core of the book cover topics such as the futures of China and the United States, U.S.-China relations, India, and globalization.

Asked whether Chinese leaders are serious about displacing the United States as the number-one power in the world, Lee says, "Of course. Why not?" Observing that "their reawakened sense of destiny is an overpowering force," he asks, "How could they not aspire to be number one in Asia, and in time the world?" He affirms the United States’ position as the world's sole superpower but expresses dismay at the vagaries of its political system. He offers strategic advice for dealing with China and goes on to discuss India's future, geopolitics and globalization, and democracy. Lee also offers candid judgments on multiculturalism, the welfare state, education, and the free market.

In his foreword to the book, Henry A. Kissinger writes: “I’ve had the privilege of meeting many world leaders over the past half-century; none, however, has taught me more than Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first premier and its guiding spirit ever since. It will not take long for readers to discover why Lee is not only one of the seminal leaders of our period, but also a thinker recognized for his singular strategic acumen.”

Fareed Zakaria, journalist and author of The Post-American World, writes: “This book includes some of [Lee’s] most penetrating and insightful analyses of today’s global issues, and is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the future of world politics.”

TIME Magazine’s February 4 edition includes an excerpt from the book, introduced by Asia editor Zoher Abdoolcarim: “Lee's powerful intellect is captured in a new book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World…[As] the book, and the adaptation here of the China chapter, reveal, Lee is as sharp, direct and prescient as ever.” He adds: “Over the years Lee has been called many things — unflattering as well as admiring. But perhaps the single most fitting description is: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow.”

Graham Allison is Douglas Dillon Professor of Government and Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Robert D. Blackwill is Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ali Wyne is an associate with the Belfer Center.

 

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Wilke, Sharon. “New Book by Graham Allison and Robert Blackwill Explores Global Insights of “Grand Master” Lee Kuan Yew.” News, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, February 1, 2013.

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