Parag Khanna’s vision of our future world, one that’s built on mobility and migration, is, on first encounter, rather thrilling ... I can imagine all this working as a TED talk. As a book, though, it feels less like being woken up with a sharp slap and more like being belaboured. And it boils down to an unoriginal thesis — that migration is the next big thing — married to two questionable assertions: that this is what young people want and what the world needs ... There are too many of these questionable assertions ... There is some questionable science too ... Throughout, Khanna conflates his own globe-trotting antinational fervour with an inevitable historical trend, and confuses a caste of high-flyers with a worldwide generation.
A nuanced discussion of the increasing importance of free movement across the planet ... Khanna’s book is rich in implication ... Nativists will hate it, but no matter. Khanna makes an urgent, powerful argument for more open international borders.
Diffuse ... Unfortunately, Khanna’s frequent use of anecdotal evidence...and technocratic optimism...fail to convince, and the book’s choppy structure makes it difficult to follow his central argument. This fitful road map to the future gets lost in speculation.
