'Is the West losing the rest?' with Kishore Mahbubani

Join UNC Global Affairs for a Diplomatic Discussion with Kishore Mahbubani, retired Singaporean diplomat, past president of the UN Security Council and founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Mahbubani will continue the Diplomacy Initiative's "Whither Globalization?" speaker series. He will address the shifting global power dynamics and the future of international order.

Tuesday, Oct. 13

5:30 p.m. (doors open at 5 p.m.)

Nelson Mandela Auditorium, FedEx Global Education Center

Join us after the discussion for pizza and a book signing in the atrium!

Plan to attend? Let us know! CLE credit is available.

The Diplomatic Discussion speaker series is part of Carolina's Diplomacy Initiative, which introduces students to shared global challenges and provides them opportunities to practice skills necessary to address those challenges. In 2025, UNC Global Affairs launched the Carolina Diplomacy Fellows for students interested in deepening their engagement with the Diplomacy Initiative.

Read more about Kishore Mahbubani

Kishore Mahbubani has dedicated over five decades of his life to public service. In his 33 years as a Singaporean diplomat, Mahbubani took on many challenging assignments. He served two stints as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN and held the position of permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mahbubani had an equally illustrious career in academia. He was the founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and is a prolific author, having published ten books. His ninth book, The Asian 21st Century, is an open access volume which has been downloaded over 4.35 million times. Mahbubani has also been listed among the world’s top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines and among the Top 50 individuals who would shape the debate on the future of capitalism by the Financial Times. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.