This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else. It is about the great transformation taking place around the world, a transformation that, though often discussed, remains poorly understood. This is natural. Changes, even sea changes, take place gradually. Though we talk about a new era, the world seems to be one with which we are familiar. But in fact, it is very different.

There have been three tectonic power shifts over the lasts 500 years, fundamental changes in the distribution of power that have reshaped international life—its politics, economics and culture. The first was the rise of the Western world, a process that began in the 15th Century and accelerated dramatically in the late 18th Century. It produced modernity as we know it: science and technology, commerce and capitalism, the agricultural and industrial revolutions. It also produced the prolonged political dominance of the nations of the West.

The second shift, which took place in the closing years of the 19th Century, was the rise of the United States. Soon after it industrialized, the U.S. became the most powerful nation since imperial Rome, and the only one that was stronger than any likely combination of other nations. For most of the last century, the U.S. has dominated global economics, politics, science, and culture. For the last twenty years, the dominance has been unrivaled, a phenomenon unprecedented in modern history.

We are now living through the third great power shift of the modern era. It could be called “the rise of the rest.” Over the past few decades, countries all over the world have been experiencing rates of economic growth that were once unthinkable. The overall trend has been unambiguously upward. This growth has been most visible in Asia but is no longer confined to it. In 2006 and 2007, 124 countries grew at a rate of four percent or more. That includes more than 30 countries in Africa, two-thirds of the continent. Antoine van Agtmael, the fund manager who coined the term “emerging markets,” has identified the 25 companies most likely to be the world’s next great multinationals. His list includes four companies each from Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan; three from India; two from China; and one each from Argentina, Chile, Malaysia and South Africa.

Look around. The tallest building in the world is now in Taipei, and it will soon be overtaken by one being built in Dubai. The world’s richest man is Mexican, and its largest publicly traded corporation is Chinese. By many measures, London is becoming the leading financial center, and the United Arab Emirates is home to the most richly endowed investment fund. The world’s largest Ferris wheel is in Singapore. Its number one casino is not in Las Vegas but in Macao. Only ten years ago, America was at the top in many, if not most, of these categories.

For the first time ever, we are witnessing genuinely global growth. This is creating an international system in which countries in all parts of the world are no longer objects or observers but players in their own right. It is the birth of a truly global order.

"Reprinted from The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria. Copyright (c) 2008 by Fareed Zakaria.With the permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc."

Fareed Zakaria is editor of Newsweek International and author of the New York Times bestseller The Future of Freedom.