Can Asians Think of Peace?: Essays on Managing Conflict in the Asian Century

This open access book explores the shifting dynamics of global power, highlighting Asia’s resurgence. For centuries before the Western colonial era, China and India dominated the world economy. Now, Asia is reclaiming its historical prominence. China presents a formidable challenge to American power, while India is on track to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030. The 21st century is poised to be the Asian century, but will this rise be peaceful, or will it lead to catastrophic conflicts?

Kishore Mahbubani, head and founder of the Asian Peace Programme (APP) at the National University of Singapore, offers a collection of 61 essays on peace in Asia, co-edited by Dr. Varigonda Kesava Chandra, and Kristen Tang. Written by scholars and practitioners from both Asia and the West between July 2020 and December 2024, these essays analyze potential flashpoints in Asia and propose pragmatic, implementable ideas for conflict management and peacebuilding. Topics include managing the US-China relationship, stabilizing India-Pakistan and China-India border conflicts, strengthening relations among Southeast Asian countries, and addressing global threats such as nuclear war and climate change. Mr. Mahbubani also provides a sharp introduction, contextualizing the conflict management and peacebuilding processes of the Asian 21st century.

Kishore Mahbubani is the head and founder of the Asian Peace Programme (APP), which is housed in the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at ARI. Following a 33-year diplomatic career which included two stints as the President of the UN Security Council (Jan 2001, May 2002), Mr Mahbubani served as the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy from 2004 to 2017. He is the author of ten books, including The Asian 21st Century, an open-access volume which has received millions of downloads since it was published in 2022. His articles on the rise of Asia, geopolitics and global governance have been widely published in leading publications like Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, earning him global recognition as ＂the muse of the Asian century.＂ He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.

Varigonda Kesava Chandra is Administrative Director of APP and Research Fellow at ARI. His research focusses on social movements, state policy and state-society relations in India, as well as Asian geopolitics. His work has been published as a monograph and in several academic journals.

Kristen Tang Tse Mei is a Research Associate at ARI and has been part of the APP team since 2022. Her research focusses on Asian and global politics, public policy, and governance.