Rise of the Rest

“The Rise of The Rest”

Rhetorical Analysis

By

Rick Weiner

English 106 Park University

Spring I, 2012

Final

Fareed Zakaria, a Harvard graduate with a PHD in Political Science and a news editor at Newsweek International for twelve years, wrote “The Rise of the Rest”. Zakaria focused on the American audience and pointed out that “This is a book not about the decline of America but rather the rise of everyone else.” Zakaria effectively employs the rhetorical appeals of logos; he includes many convincing logical arguments through the use of historical facts. Indeed, he implies that this process of transition is already well under way. Nevertheless, he believes that there have been three power shifts in the last 500 years; a shift of power to the West during the Renaissance; a shift of power to the U.S. making it a superpower; and now a shift to several rising countries, especially China and India. He states “We are now living through the third great power shift of the modern era. It could be called ‘the rise of the rest.”

Zakaria claims that 124 countries, including two thirds of the continent of Asia, grew at a rate of four percent or more between 2006 and 2007. Zakaria expounds that the tallest building in the world does not reside in the United States, but rather in Taipei; and a taller one is being erected in Dubai. He cites a variety of statistical evidence of other societies gaining recognition; the world’s biggest plane is from Russia; the largest factories reside in China; the largest Ferris wheel is in Singapore; the biggest movie industry is in Bollywood not Hollywood; and the largest shopping mall is in Beijing. He also points out that several countries are making a gradual climb out poverty. From 1981 to 2004, the number of people living in poverty across the globe changed decreased from 40 percent to 18 percent. These figures represent people who live on a dollar a day or less. “China’s growth alone has lifted more...