A Book Preview: Key to a Country's Success

choi

Ian Bremmer, The Future Belongs to the Flexible; In the emerging global order, the key to a country's success will be courting multiple partners. Wall Street Journal, Apr 28, 2012.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 65990370899520.html

(a) Excerpt in the window of print: Brazil is well diversified, Kazakhstan has juggled multiple allies, and tiny Singapore marries the East and West.

(b) Quote (two consecutive paragraphs):

"Tiny Singapore proves that a country's size need not limit its international options. The island city-state sits at the mouth of the strategically vital Strait of Malacca. Its per capita GDP is among the highest in the world. Unemployment hovers at about 2%. Singapore's government has worked to marry Eastern culture and Western business practices, and the country is now the world's fourth leading financial center, behind London, New York and Hong Kong. Many foreign companies looking to set up shop in Asia want a base that allows them access to all of Asia's power economies without overreliance on any of them, and Singapore fits the bill.

"Wedged between Russia and China, Kazakhstan is already profiting from its position as a pivot state. It has built one of the world's fastest-growing economies, thanks mainly to the large-scale export of oil, metals and grains, which helps to ensure that it doesn't rely too heavily for trade on Russia, its former Soviet neighbor, or on China.

(c) My comment:
(i) The introduction at the end of the article: "Mr Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group, a research and consulting firm on global political risk. This essay is adapted from his new book, 'Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World.'
(ii) Ian Bremmer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Bremmer
(iii) There is no need to read the rest of the article, which is not impressive.