On February 29,The Century Foundation and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung sponsored Ascendant Asia and the Global Agenda, a breakfast roundtable discussing the rising powers of Asia. As these countries gain ever greater economic and political clout, their ascent potentially poses major challenges to long-established international institutions and to the overall global agenda. How will an empowered China or India, say, seek to re-shape the international agenda? And what impact may their enhanced influence on global decision-making have on policy debates among concerned citizen movements as well as political leaders in traditional leading states—especially if they encounter resistance to security, human rights, social, and economic priorities?

Panelists included:

• Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kwan Yew school of public policy at National University of Singapore, formerly Singapore’s permanent representative to the United Nations, and most recently author of The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East
• James Traub, contributing writer for New York Times Magazine and author of The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the U.N. in the Era of American World Power
• Yvonne Terlingen, representative of Amnesty International to the United Nations.

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