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What Next?: Surviving the Twenty-first Century [Hardcover]

Chris Patten
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Book Description

2 Oct 2008

Globalisation, energy, international crime, Weapons of Mass Destruction, nuclear proliferation, small arms proliferation, international drugs trafficking, climate change, water shortage, migration, epidemic disease, the fraying of the nation state: the list of challenges facing our world is itself proliferating rapidly, and nobody seems to have much of a grip on what is going on. Digesting vast amounts of information from a multiplicity of sources, and drawing on his experience at the highest levels of national and international politics, Chris Patten analyses what we know in each of these areas and argues how in each of them we could get somewhere we might want to be. Very little, he says, has turned out as we might have expected twenty years ago, but there is plenty we can still do.

Readers of Patten's previous books will know what a penetrating analyst and engaging writer he is. This is his most ambitious and impressive yet.



Product details

  • Hardcover: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Allen Lane; First Edition edition (2 Oct 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0713998563
  • ISBN-13: 978-0713998566
  • Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 15.2 x 23.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 479,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practised now than three or four thousand years ago. (John Adams )

Review

'If a few of tomorrow's policy-makers read Patten, my optimism that we can control rather than be controlled by events will grow. Every thinker on, or practitioner of, international affairs, will profit from reading any book that Patten writes on foreign policy'

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
In his latest book Chris Patten provides a humane perspective on some of the horrors that the World faces in modern times from proliferation of nuclear and other arms, crime, drugs, disease and bank managers. The blurb on the jacket of the paperback version includes the usual undiluted praise, mainly from prestigious British sources, with one acerbic comment from Simon Robinson of Time magazine that describes it with some accuracy as 'part history part opinionated guidebook', to which he could have added 'part compendium of interesting facts.' However Patten's opinions are worth reading. He is an unusual politician in that he does not have a monumental ego and is willing to recognise the achievements of his political adversaries. He has also been in the centre of world affairs for many years and has met and knows some of its key players. The changing times in which we live are reflected in the six people he names 'who have tried to improve the world', two are of Portuguese origin, one Chinese, one Arab and only one American. This is a very different world since the last major resetting of human affairs after WW 2 with Bretton Woods and the U.N. - dominated at that time by the U.S. It would have been interesting to hear more from Patten on the decline of American power and the new multipolar world and its consequences both good and bad. In fact it is the deeper level of insight and understanding that will answer the question 'what next?' that is missing from this book.

Patten has a cool logical approach but his personal bias shows through from time to time.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly liberal 5 Feb 2009
Format:Hardcover
Chris Patten identifies a number of problems and issues facing the world, and has a surprisingly liberal (with a small l) view for a Conservative politician. His insights are scattered with personal insights and recollections from his time as a politician, governer of Hong Kong and EU commissioner. As an insider he is clear that the problems facing the world are known and understood at the highest levels - it is just the implementation of corrective actions that is not agreed. As a Labour Party member I was surprised at how much he wrote was in agreement with my perceptions.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Rare political wisdom 19 Nov 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Lord Patten has a rare perspective from which to reflect on what can be learned from the 20th century to guide us into the 21st. He was held highest office in British and European giovernmen, he was the last governor of Hongkong and is the Chancellor of Oxford University. He demonstrates a remarkable capacity to link direct experience at the heart of politics to a talent for recognising the significance of what surfaces in the face-to-face meetings between human beings. He understands the impact of big political decisions on ordinary men and women.

He cares deeply for what we are doing to the world we are in and is not bound by ideology. He sets out to understand the ebb and flow of life and what kind of global society we are creating.

The book is full of delightfully detailed accounts of intimate events, personal meetings, asides and comments on world leaders. A truly human person is revealed who one feels can be trusted with the challenging issues faceing the BBC now, the body of which he is the Chair of the Trustees.

One feels that this is a man one can trust.
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5.0 out of 5 stars What Next - a glimmer in the collective dark 29 Mar 2012
Format:Hardcover
What a book like this shows us is that however much we think we know about the world around us, gleaned from the media and the quality press, it is always too little. Pattern`s book is something of an insider`s view and, as such, offers us a lesson in lateral thinking, or is that just thinking in the first place? What we generally do not understand is the way governments work around the world, what the UN achieves (we usually presume nothing much), how international regulations play their part, what government initiatives seek, or fail to seek, and just how corrupt and depressingly violent too much of the world beyond our door truly is. We see here the risks of both inaction and the cost involved if we dare lose our grip on civilization itself. Whilst giving the reader a view of the world as it sadly is, it also encourages us to think across problems and consider, at a personal level, what we otherwise leave to our leaders.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A primer for the modern age 20 Jan 2009
By Chris Widgery VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
This book is, in effect, a primer on the key issues the world faces at the start of the 21st century. Each chapter considers a separate issue - terrorism, water shortages, inequality, the arms trade - how we got to where we are and then what we might do about it. Patten writes with authority, experience and, it must be said, a very readable prose style.

It is both profoundly depressing but also offers some flickers of encouragement. Depressing because many of the solutions are so incredibly stare-you-in-the-face bleedin' obvious but nobody is doing a thing about them (the material on the 'bottom billion' particularly so). But encouraging because solutions - or steps to put us on the path to solutions - are there. Patten is clearly a great internationalist, who has great faith in the ability of international institutions to achieve great things - if they are allowed to do by their members.

You won't agree with every word, but this is a thought provoking and enjoyable read.
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