Zakaria notes in the Preface that the first edition of the book was published just in time for the 2008 financial crisis, an event that advanced his thesis that the dominant position of the West (and the United States specifically) in global politics was beginning to wane, especially in terms of economics. This gave way to a more genuinely global and multipolar international system. Since the second edition was published in 2011, there is now more than a decade’s worth of additional evidence to consider the validity of his thesis. The most significant development has been the continued ascent of China on the world stage, a trend that Zakaria details but has accelerated further since the time of his publication. Under the Obama administration (which Zakaria touches on only briefly in the updated edition), the US attempted a so-called “pivot to Asia,” sold as a refocusing of resources away from the Middle East but generally understood as an attempt to contain growing Chinese power.

China was, and currently is as of 2025, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, who took power in 2011. China responded to the US by making more assertive claims in the South China Sea, and it introduced the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank as an alternative to the Western-dominated World Bank.