At first this book comes across as simplistic and sketchy, more descriptive than prescriptive. The West, losing industry and labor, fears the coming century. China and India, “Chindia,” with their booming economies, foresee a hopeful rise in their status as nations. The Arab nations and others suffer from a humiliation so deep that it paralyzes them, leaving them with dysfunctional governments, a thirst for fundamentalist faiths, and a fatalistic attitude toward the rest of the world.

Moisi, however, a self-proclaimed realist amid idealists, founder of the French Institute of International Relations and a teacher at Harvard, has been steeped in such complexities and only uses this sketchy come-on to try to fathom the cultural emotions at play in our contemporary world.

“If the twentieth century was both ‘the American century’ and ‘the century of ideology,’ ” he states, “I think there is strong evidence that the twenty-first century will be ‘the Asian century’ and ‘the century of identity.’ ” He also thinks like many others that the United States will still have a huge role to play but more as one among many, no longer able to dictate policy unilaterally.

Moisi has a sharp eye for anomalies and trends. Israel and Pakistan, for instance, are the only countries in the world based solely on religion, a fact that may hinder as much as help them, particularly in the Asian world of hybridity and cultural interrelationships that may be more adaptable to globalization.

“Chindia” may be more label than landscape. The political cultures of each are vastly different, and they view themselves differently: “The Indian formula ‘the largest democracy in the world’ is as ritualized as the Chinese claim to be ‘the oldest civilization in the world.’ ” Corruption along with the vast abyss between rich and poor continue to plague them.

Islamic culture sees decay, comparing what was with what is. What happened? After preserving Greek culture and developing their own in earlier centuries, they now find themselves stuck with inadequate leaders or, in the case of Egypt, “a stultified gerontocracy.” Not many Arab countries function. By focusing their populace’s eyes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they hope that those eyes won’t look upon the immobility and stagnation at home. Such places are ripe for right-wing religions and a call to arms.

Europe seems more museum than movement forward. America’s spiraling debt, its obese people and its crumbling infrastructure don’t bode well. All is not yet lost, but we’d better move fast.