Kishore Mahbubani

Mahbubani speaking at the World Economic Forum Summit on the Global Agenda 2008.

Kishore Mahbubani (born October 24, 1948, Singapore) is a notable academic and is currently Professor in the Practice of Public Policy and the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. From 1971 to 2004 he served in the Singaporean Foreign Services, ending up as Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In that role he served as president of the United Nations Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002.

According to his website, his earlier postings included Cambodia (where he served during the war in 1973-74), Malaysia and Washington, DC, and he was Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1998. He is currently in the Board of Governors of the Institute of Policy Studies. Mahbubani has also served on the boards of leading institutes and think tanks in Singapore, such as the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the Institute of Policy Studies, the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship and the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies.

The President's Scholarship was awarded to Mahbubani in 1967, for him to delve into philosophy as an undergraduate in University of Singapore (now known as the National University of Singapore or NUS). Later in 1976, he also obtained a Master's degree in philosophy and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1995, both from Dalhousie University. In addition, he was a fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in 1991-92.

Mahbubani is best known outside Singapore for his writings in journals such as Foreign Affairs and in the books Can Asians Think? and Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust between America and the World. His articles have appeared in several leading journals and newspapers outside of Singapore, such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

He is the son of Hindu-Sindhi Indian parents. Mahbubani has three children.

In 2006 he was appointed Chair of the United World College of South East Asia board of governors. Mahbubani spoke at the graduation ceremony for the class of 2007, focusing on the competitive advantage they now have as graduates of a United World College in Asia.

In 2008, he was interviewed on BBC Television's HardTalk. He asserted that Asia was ascending at a time the West, in particular the United States, was declining.

He was a keynote speaker at the Science & Technology Summit in The Hague on November 18, 2010.

In 2011, he was named by Foreign Policy magazine to its list of top global thinkers.

Books

• Can Asians Think? Understanding the Divide Between East and West., Steerforth, 2001, ISBN 978-1-58642033-8; Times Editions; 3rd edition, 2004, ISBN 978-9-81232789-5
• Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World, Perseus Books Group, 2005, ISBN 978-1-58648268-8
• The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East, PublicAffairs, 2008, ISBN 978-1-58648466-8

See also

• The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll

External links

• Kishore Mahbubani's Official Website
• Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
• Podcast of Kishore Mahbubani discussing “the Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East” at the Shanghai International Literary Festival
• Transcript of interview on VPRO's Tegenlicht (Dutch Television)