In the first book to investigate the far-reaching emotional impact of globalization, Dominique Moïsi shows how the geopolitics of today is characterized by a “clash of emotions.” The West, he argues, is dominated and divided by fear. For Muslims and Arabs, a culture of humiliation is quickly devolving into a culture of hatred. Asia, on the other hand, has been able to concentrate on building a better future, so it is creating a new culture of hope. Moïsi, a leading authority on international affairs, explains that in order to understand our changing world, we need to confront emotion. And as he makes his case, he deciphers the driving emotions behind our cultural differences, delineating a provocative and important new perspective on globalization.
“A terrific book. . . . Fascinating, really worth reading.”
—Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World and host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS
“Rich in intelligence and insight. . . . Today’s reflex is to strive for simplicity. Dominique Moïsi performs the infinitely more valuable task of making sense of the cacophony of complexities that shape our world.”
—Financial Times
“Groundbreaking. . . . An astonishingly creative response to Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Compassionate. . . . A clear-sighted plea for understanding ‘the Other’ in the age of globalisation.”
—The Observer (London)
“This is Moisi at his best: original, challenging and full of elegance. This little book shows how globalization has forged a new world disorder defined as much by clashes of emotions, as divisions over interests and power.”
—Mark Leonard, author of What Does China Think?
“Human beings are not automata concerned solely with maximising wealth or power. They are bundles of emotions. In this scintillating essay, the French analyst, Dominique Moisi, explores the role of three potent emotions—hope, humiliation and fear—in shaping the world we live in today and might live in tomorrow.”
—Martin Wolf, author of Fixing Global Finance
