Book Review: Restless Continent by Michael Wesley

Book Name: Restless Continent

Author: Michael Wesley

Publisher: Duckworth Overlook

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb: Exploring the unprecedented growth of Asia’s economy and what the future may hold – an essential road-map for a region in transition. The world has never seen economic development as rapid or significant as Asia’s during recent decades. Home to three-fifths of humanity, this restless continent will soon produce more than half of the world’s economic output and consume more energy than the rest of the world combined. All but three of the planet’s current and nascent nuclear powers are Asian, and it has the greatest growth in weapons spending of any other region.
Surprisingly little hard thinking has been done about the future of Asia. Restless Continent is the first book to examine the economic, social, political and strategic trends across the world’s largest continent and presents a road-map for thinking about Asia’s future–and the world. It looks at the psychology of countries which are becoming newly rich and powerful. It explores the ‘corridors of blood’—the geography and politics of conflict. And it makes a case for how to avert a plunge into dispute, or even war.
Written for the general reader and policy specialist alike, Restless Continent is an agenda-shaping book about international affairs in the twenty-first century.

Review: Restless Continent is a fascinating account of Asia’s emerging power in economics and the new found sphere of geo-political influence. It has soon become a very important continent housing important economic centres and has assumed similar importance as that enjoyed by the Middle East for centuries.

He examines the continent’s growth holistically giving an all round perspective. Rather than dealing with the subject in a scholarly tone, the author has presented it in a story telling format making the book simple and easy to comprehend even for laymen.

“China gained its seat at the United Nations and quickly established diplomatic relations with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.”

The author has discussed major political events such as the disputes in Arunanchal Pradesh between India and China, both Asian powerhouses and other similar events in Japan and China. The book also deals with the sparsely populated regions of central Asia devoid of major populations and largely isolated from the world thus missing out on economic growth and a sense of belonging in the absence of a clear cut national identity.

It is a very well researched book and deals with all major issues in Asia largely from an economic and geo-political perspective.

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