Will India Emerge as an Eastern or Western Power?

CASI Seminar
Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani
Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
Penn Club of New York, 30 West 44th Street, New York, NY

Ambassador Mahbubani has enjoyed a remarkable career in government, while at the same time writing prolifically on public issues. As a diplomat in the Singapore Foreign Service from 1971 to 2004, he was posted to Cambodia (where he served during the war in 1973-74), Malaysia, Washington, and New York, where he served two stints as Singapore's ambassador to the United Nations, and as president of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. He was permanent secretary at the Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1998.

He is also the author of Can Asians Think? (published in Singapore, Canada, US, Mexico, India, China and Malaysia) and of Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust Between America and the World (published in New York). His articles have appeared in a wide range of journals and newspapers. He has also been profiled in the Economist and in Time magazine. Many of his shorter writings can be found on www.mahbubani.net.

Mr. Mahbubani was awarded the President's Scholarship in 1967. He graduated with a first class honors degree in philosophy from the University of Singapore in 1971. He received a master's degree in philosophy in 1976 and an honorary doctorate in 1995, both from Dalhousie University, Canada. In 1991-92, he spent a year as a fellow at Harvard's Center for International Affairs.

The Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Lecture Series is an endowed public program of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). Launched in the 2007-08 academic year, and made possible through the generous support of the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, the series brings renowned India specialists to the Penn community and serves as a critical forum for analyzing and understanding the complex economic, political, social, and cultural changes that the world’s largest democracy is experiencing, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.
The Saluja Global Fellows Program has been made possible by the generous gift from Vishal Saluja ENG’89 W’89. CASI was excited to launch the program during the 2022–23 academic year, coinciding with the Center’s 30th Anniversary. This new program enables CASI to invite eminent leaders and rising experts on contemporary India preferably from the fields of media, culture, law, and contemporary history to be in residence for one to two weeks at CASI.