Super Continent

Kent E. Calder is Director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, and Interim Dean of Johns Hopkins University SAIS in Washington, D.C.

"Kent Calder is dead right. An increasingly reconnected Eurasia is re-emerging, and it will, once again, become the center of gravity in our world. This volume is an indispensable guide for both professors and politicians to the complex new realities of this Super Continent."—Kishore Mahbubani, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore "Super Continent is a super book. Calder breaks new analytic ground by assessing the Eurasian continent as a whole and describes the multiple centripetal forces that are increasingly knitting this vast landmass – and its many sovereign states – together. He demonstrates a dexterous feel for the multiple private actors, countries and governments, regional organizations, and amorphous forces that are driving de facto integration. This book will be an eye-opener to many readers and should be read widely by scholars, officials, and practitioners."—David Shambaugh, George Washington University "The bold analysis in Calder's Super Continent reveals a rapidly integrating Eurasian continent with a wealthy and powerful China at its core. It spells out the implications for world order and for a diminished United States in a presentation worthy of Halford Mackinder. American policy makers focused exclusively on the Indian and Pacific oceanic rims ignore Eurasian continental integration at their peril."—David B. Shear, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs "One of the most erudite experts in East Asian studies today, in an extraordinarily thought-provoking sweep, broadens the transpacific debate to a global one. Today, modern technologies attract corporations and states to establish a logistical network on the Eurasian continent. It brings into almost direct contact the two major global centers, beside the U.S.A.—the EU and China—and helps integrate the vast area in between the two. Kent Calder argues that this may well prove right, belatedly, Halford Mackinder with his geopolitical notion of Eurasian dominance in the world: the creation of a Super Continent. The myth of the Silk Road might finally come true. While the potential is there, though, Professor Calder argues there is no automatism that the emerging transcontinental network will be successful. Overly ambitious or malevolent Russian and Chinese intentions, or factors such as demographic developments, may take the continent in a different direction. But as this is an age when American presidents withdraw from post-Second World War U.S. engagement with the world, it is not hard to see that the new synergistic dynamism in Eurasia may well be the crucial factor putting an end to America's unipolar dominance in the world. Calder does not fail to outline in a persuasive conclusion what the consequences for U.S. politics should be. ... One of this book's strengths is that it not only describes where present tendencies in Eurasian developments might lead the world. Super Continent is also a welcome challenge to thinkers and practitioners in the field of international relations."—Volker Stanzel, former Ambassador to China and Japan and current Vice President of the German Council on Foreign Relations "Will China unite or divide the world? Professor Calder expects unity—at least on the super continent....None of us possesses a crystal ball. ButSuper Continentprovides meaningful facts and ideas for assessing alternative futures in world affairs."—Walter Clemens, New York Journal of Books

• Introduction1. Eurasian Reconnection and Renaissance2. The Silk Road Syndrome3. Eurasia in the Making4. The Logic of Integration5. Quiet Revolution in China6. Southeast Asia: The First Experiment7. Russia: An Unbalanced Entente8. The New Europe: Deepening Synergies9. Shadows and Critical Uncertainties10. Toward a New World Order11. Prospects and Policy Implications