East and West in a Changing Global Order

Ian Morris, Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics, Professor of History, and Fellow of the Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford Unviersity

Thomas Fingar, Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford Unviersity (moderator)

In his two recent books, "Why the West Rules--For Now" and "The Measure of Civilization", Ian Morris has designed an index of social development, to quantify social power in different parts of the world across the 15,000+ years since the end of the last ice age. The index suggests three main conclusions--first, that geography has been the main force behind the West's global dominance; second, that the East is likely to catch up in the late 21st century; and third, and most importantly, that the world will see bigger transformations in the next 100 years than it did in the last 100,000 years.