Move: The Forces Uprooting Us

by Parag Khanna

*A Financial Times Best Book of the Year*

A “provocative” ( Booklist ) and compelling look at the powerful global forces that will cause billions of us to move geographically over the next decades, ushering in an era of radical change.

In the 60,000 years since people began colonizing the continents, a recurring feature of human civilization has been mobility —the ever-constant search for resources and stability. Seismic global events—wars and genocides, revolutions and pandemics—have only accelerated the process. The map of humanity isn’t settled—not now, not ever.

As climate change tips toward full-blown crisis, economies collapse, governments destabilize, and technology disrupts, we’re entering a new age of mass migrations—one that will scatter both the dispossessed and the well-off. Which areas will people abandon and where will they resettle? Which countries will accept or reject them? As today’s world population, which includes four billion restless youth, votes with their feet, what map of human geography will emerge?

In Move , celebrated futurist Parag Khanna provides an illuminating and authoritative vision of the next phase of human civilization—one that is both mobile and sustainable. As the book explores, in the years ahead people will move people to where the resources are and technologies will flow to the people who need them, returning us to our nomadic roots while building more secure habitats.

“An urgent, powerful argument for more open international borders” ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review), Move is a fascinating look at the deep trends that are shaping the most likely scenarios for the future. Most important, it guides each of us as we determine our optimal location on humanity’s ever-changing map.

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Politics, Climate Change, Sociology, Futurism, History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Parag Khanna is Founder & Managing Partner of FutureMap, a data and scenario based strategic advisory firm. He is the international bestselling author of six books, has traveled to most of the countries of the world, and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Gold Mine Of Technotyrannical Neoarchy. Wow. Where to begin. I suppose I should specify what I mean by "Gold mine": It is my personal designation for the worst books possible, the ones where you shift through tons of detritus to find even the smallest speck of anything remotely redeemable. Thus, while some might thing that describing a thing as a "gold mine" is a way of denoting massive wealth, for me it is exactly the opposite - something to only be even considered by those with particularly high levels of pain tolerance and masochistic tendencies.

Here, "celebrated futurist" (according to the book's description) Khanna basically does all he can to trash anything remotely Western (and particularly American) while seeking a society that is technologically tyrannical and ruled by the young. (Thus, "technotyrannical neoarchy".) His hubris in claiming that technology and skills are all that matters - and not pesky things like basic human rights and physical geographies - is utterly mind blowing. And his lack of documentation - barely 10% of this advanced reader copy edition I read was bibliography - is truly astounding for such major claims. Perhaps he thinks he gets away with this by claiming to be a "futurist"? Your projections are only as good as your source material, bub, and I expect to see it if you want to make such utterly fantastical claims as claiming that Wakanda is a possibly real society (specifically in saying that Black Panther is a "futuristic" film without ever even alluding to the term "science fiction", as in "Black Panther is a futuristic science fiction film") or that iFunny is a major Gen Z social media platform. Also, proclaiming the mobile home to be the "ultimate symbol of the new American mobility" is so utterly laughable in and of itself that this book should not be classified in any genre but humor.

If you're reading this review and want actual looks at how migration works and the various issues world powers will be looking at over the coming decades, you're *MUCH* better off with Sonia Shah's The Next Great Migration or Tim Marshall's The Power Of Geography and Prisoners of Geography - yes, even with Marshall's own shortsightedness on some issues.

This book is thus not recommended at all, unless you happen to have high tolerances for pain and are particularly masochistic. Which is a major shame, since the title and subtitle were so promising.

[Peter Tillman]

See Jeff's one-star review & my comment at his:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A "celebrated futurist" and "global strategy advisor" wrote it! Words of warning. Sad to see Nature Magazine recommend such a thing. Political special-pleading, yuck.

[Leon Markham · Rating 2 out of 5]

important topics. this book might make you dumber on all of them.

The author is clearly well read and well connected, and shares a lot of interesting insights, anecdotes and data points. Unfortunately he then goes on to string them together in an unsubstantiated, sloppy narrative that will leave you a little bit stupider than you were before you read it.

There are important topics covered in this book, and if you want to get smarter about them there are better books.

[Marc Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is spot on and I was surprised to hear that it was finished before the pandemic.
Dr Parag Khanna is a true futurist in the way he predicts the future of movements. He explores who the winners and losers might be in the climate geography lottery, and whether there is a way everyone can walk away with the winning ticket.
He writes about four possible scenarios in the book, each depicting a different future for the world. I definitely am striving for the most sustainable and livability version.
I talked with Dr Parag Khanna about the book and you can find the episode here: https://youtu.be/3v_1dBOeXMM

If you are interested in Dr Parag Khanna's work you can also listen to episode 44 on the podcast: https://youtu.be/6S9Zi8UiRT0

Or check out the links below:
https://www.innovatorsmag.com/which-o...
https://medium.com/inside-ideas/dr-pa...

[Matthew Cory · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is built on flawed premises. The author makes claims such as "Immigrants do jobs US workers refuse to do" which is a patently false statement...if you pay the US worker enough, they'll do any job. Another example: "Overseas students don't want to matriculate at American universities". And then the author comes to conclusions based on these false statements. It's as if the author needs to get out of his academic/corporate bubble and see how real people live.

The writing is great if you accept these hypotheses...but it's such a shaky foundation that I can't recommend this book.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Khanna è un economista con referenze accademiche e una società di consulenza strategica basata su dati statistici e scenari globali. La non sorprendente tesi del libro è questa:
Le migrazioni globali rispondono ad una reciproca necessità dei migranti e dei paesi di destinazione, sono una giusta riparazione da parte dei paesi ex-coloniali o comunque responsabili del cambiamento climatico e dell'impoverimento del sud del mondo, costituiscono un diritto inalienabile dell'uomo.
Nel complesso un'analisi piuttosto deludente e semplicistica.
Non mancano poi imprecisioni piuttosto irritanti, che confermano l'impressione che nel tentativo di inseguire la big picture, con la deep science ed i big data, la visione dell'autore sia piuttosto superficiale.

[Bryan Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Move is a quick look at how human geography might change in the coming decades.

Khanna focuses on the climate crisis as a mover (ahem) of change, and adds in local geopolitical and cultural forces.

There are some interesting and useful ideas. One scenario offered, "Northern Lights," suggests a planetary shift northwards with enormous civilizational effort (27-8). Canada stands out as one likely refuge/growing power (110ff) as does the Russian east (146-151). Khanna also shares my optimism for the North American Great Lakes region, both the US and Canadian bits, as having access to fresh water plus being far from rising oceans and spreading deserts (101-105).

However, Move is too breezy to really dive into these issues. It skims them, like a series of op-eds with the occasional travelog. For more, we should turn elsewhere.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of arbitrary little pseudo-facts and causal fallacies the author finds interesting, coupled with a bunch of prescriptions for a “better” future which essentially amount to suggestions that human societies stop functioning like real human societies. This was like reading a bad student essay. Stopped at page 100.

[Hamish Scragg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute drivel, took an unarguably obvious thesis that humans move for money and/or resources and filled it out with bizarre and unserious assertions. Pandemic publishing cash grab destined for airport departure lounges flicked through by passengers on long haul flights before they watch a film. Just awful.

[Hussam Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book has a powerful thesis, but the writing style is terrible. Bunch of unorganized anecdotes, making it difficult to follow the main argument. It took me a very long time to finish reading this book.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Siren song to the elites...you pass this one by.

[Claudette R · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best human geography books I've ever read.

[Nicole Means · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful look at the potential transformations that can take place as our world becomes more connected.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fascinating look at the several billions of climate migrants we can expect over the next few decades, the majority from the global south and coastal lands worldwide. probably there are a billion already on the move.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

2050

Where will you live in 2050? This simple question starts the author off on a story of how the distribution of people around the world is changing, largely driven by climate change and the ever evolving complexity of nations’ demographics. Low birth rates in industrialized nations with a need for workers will pull immigrants from nations facing environmental collapse. A decrease in national identity and people considering themselves part of a global citizenry means movements across the globe become fluid. All very interesting and laid out well.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like TED talks, you might enjoy this book.
The premise:
“Will there ever be a stable harmony of our political, economic, environmental, and human geographies again? We would be very lucky to thread that needle. The complex chain reactions we have unleashed among industry, ecology, demographics, technology, and other factors [the meat of his arguments and presentation of data] spell continuous turbulence. It’s more likely that over the course of one’s lifetime, many more people will move multiple times for multiple reasons in multiple directions; in search of work, fleeing climate change, seeking a better political system, or acting from some other motivation. The decades ahead will witness constant circulation as we attempt to rectify the grave mismatch among resources, borders, industries, and people.” (p. 264)

I read it completely, yet was not generally convinced by the writing. The amount of research seemed too shallow to support many of Khanna’s assertions, some of which even contradicted previous points. However, there is an intriguing bibliography with many contemporary references I’d like to explore.

[Vibhor Sahay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very informative human geography book.

Spoke to me since I am one of the movers myself.

[Cath Ennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Interesting topic, let down by a rather convoluted writing style and some other issues. For example, early on, the author referred to the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut as Canadian provinces, which they are not, which made me wonder which of the other information in the book was also incorrect. Some of the ideas in the technology sections also seemed a little out there!

My paperback edition also had some formatting issues. The legends of some of the figures were missing, and others were in such tiny text that I couldn't read them at all, even looking through my phone camera with maximum zoom. Others seemed to be black and white reproductions of colour figures, so the scales weren't easy to interpret. In addition, the boxed text was small and on a dark grey background, so, again, very hard to read. My eyesight is nowhere near so bad that this was a me-problem; this was very much a book formatting problem.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

From what I can tell, population movement is this author's specialty, and he's brilliant (or his data sources are great or both). This covers past and potentially future trends. Logically, food and temperature seem to be the main drivers. Certainly, there's more to it and that data is interesting too. No one can predict the future, but this info is compelling. Recommended to those interested in the topic whether laymen or scientist.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

[Martin Henson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains a great deal of important information. And the perspectives surrounding mobility and demography are well made. But there is a muddle here too: an almost libertarian future (which includes a major role for crypto - incidentally, he doesn't understand money at all) does not square with changes in policy that really require a strong public component. Politics, understood very generally, is generally missing.

[Alyssa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Move started out promising, but then quickly turned into a jumbled narrative that took me months to finish. Khanna has interesting points, and his topics are widely relevant (even though the book was published during the covid era). However, his stream of consciousness style hardly kept my interest. The abundant data lacked sufficient analysis, and what seemed like a thought provoking book on human migration fell massively flat.

[Erin Spradlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting concept, but not really tied into real world consequences. This book was like reading bullet points on human migration, which was tolerable for the first 50 pages but then became painful. Without the humanization on a microscopic level it was hard to focus or care.

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The number of people already on the move internally and across borders and oceans will muliply up to a couple billion due to climate change and economic collapse. This book shows who is going where now, and where they are likely to go in the future. It is a thorough and fascinating world survey. Much is surprising.

It paints a rather sanguine portrait of northern countries with aging populations and infrastructure inviting climate and economic migrants in to perform elder care, pay into the pension systems and rebuild the infrastructure. It gives examples of pockets where assimilation has gone well but in my opinion grossly understates the amount of problems and resent this has caused. Think Muslims in France, Rohingya in Burma, Central Americans in the US. Canada is the true exception, and that may not last when the numbers multiply tenfold.

Khanna claims mass immigration is inevitable: "More societies continue on the path toward open immigration, and those who do not will wither economically and be bought by migrants anyway."

Generally speaking the book shows, as do all in this category, that the entire southern hemisphere will migrate north. It suggests that millenials and Zs are naturally cosmopolitain and will not take issue with the racial and cultural differences of the tens of millions moving in. They themselves will circulate. The future of humanity is a high tech version of the mobility of our hunter-gatherer forbears.

"The next Russian Revolution won't be about who rules Russia but who inhabits it. Unlike the fast-moving Bolshevik takeover a century ago, the current revolution is a slow-motion epic as Russia turns gray demographically, green topographically, and brown and yellow ethnically."

I think that the amount of violence that will accompany all this is a whole book in itself. (Khanna devotes only one paragraph to this on page 266.) Certainly all the militaries are already preparing for it. And these futuristic books that paint a happy picture have timelines that are being fast outpaced by the acceleration of climate change, making chaos all the more likely. Never mind global pandemics. As for the prognostications of an eventual global government...

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably should not have read Parag Khanna’s Move right after finishing Ray Dalio’s new book about how countries go broke. Dalio lays out a sobering picture of where we are in the historical cycle, and Khanna follows it with another unsettling look at the pressures reshaping our world. The result is a one two punch of “here is why everything feels unstable” which made the future seem a little heavier than usual.

Khanna’s argument about mass migration, climate shifts, and people rethinking their citizenship is fascinating, and he offers some potential paths forward. But it is hard to imagine how his solutions would play out in a world that is becoming more nationalistic, more suspicious of outsiders, and more influenced by demagogic leaders. Dalio describes an era defined by conflict over resources and identity, and Khanna describes a world where mobility and openness are the keys to surviving it. Putting those two visions together makes you wonder how realistic any optimistic scenario truly is.

After finishing both books back to back, I think I need something different. Maybe I will pick up a science fiction novel like the ones I read growing up when the future still felt full of promise. Of course, that is the fiction part, but after two heavy books about where the world may be heading, a little optimism sounds pretty good right now.

[Kathleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know much about this author but apparently he is an expert on lots of stuff. This is an admirable attempt to envision an ideal solution to humanity's massive mess-up, the result of massive overpopulation (though he never uses that word or implies it is a problem), devastation of the natural world, and comprehensive poverty, religious and political fanaticism, and social injustice. His solution include people somehow magically being able to put aside centuries (or in some cases millennia) of religious intolerance and move somewhere else, where they will all get along. It also includes the belief that, yes, the climate is changing and the increase in global temperatures will make many major population and agricultural areas uninhabitable due to heat and drought -- but hey, we'll just move north and farm the newly-defrosted arctic, sub-arctic, prairies and steppeland in North America, Europe and Asia. I wish it would all happen, but I am not sanguine, and I don't think all the facts and figures and hypothetical solutions are realistic or even possible. Good intentions, but not rooted in the natural world or human nature.

[Stuart Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author contends that free and mass movement of people is as old as humanity and that national borders is a relatively recent concept and with climate change, Northern states will need to be more welcoming as people move from the South to the North.

Parag states Europes current view on migrants of “stay at home and have less children” needs to change to be more welcoming and expansive and that any problems with mass movement of people is more to do with assimilation rather than the volume of migrants.

Whilst most people would recognise controlled migration for skills / talent is sensible, enabling uncontrolled mass movement of people (as a human right) would pose significant challenges for relatively small countries such as Britain. The book presents a number of one sided benefits for adopting a more expansive immigration policy, however doesn’t really address the implications on welfare systems, education, housing, health services, demise of green belt areas etc in the event of a significant increase in population growth. His suggestion of turning our golf courses into farms to feed the growing population, perhaps would indeed be the outcome!

[Craig Bellamy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Move: The Forces Uprooting Us by Parag Khanna is a book that purports to analyse the global demographic changes transforming our world, but it falls far short of its lofty goals. Instead, it reads like a dogmatic manifesto, lacking evidence and filled with bitter and vindictive attacks on various groups of people. He promotes age-based and racial stereotypes and assumptions that make his arguments fallacies (particularly around 'generations', defined by simplistic marketing terms such as 'Gen x'.)

The author's tone throughout the book is one of bitterness and resentment as if he is writing from a place of anger and frustration rather than genuine curiosity or interest in the topic. In conclusion, Move: The Forces Uprooting Us by Parag Khanna is a disappointing read that falls far short of its lofty goals. It is a dogmatic, general, and evidence-lacking book filled with agist stereotypes and delusional fantasy. If you're looking for a thoughtful analysis of the forces shaping our world, this book is not for you. Read Thomas Piketty instead!

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was not an easy book to read. Not because of the author's writing style but because of all the Forces that are Uprooting us. But despite the hard fact that over the next decades billions of people will be forced to move, Parag Khanna presentation of the future was enlightening and amazing!

He focuses on the climate crisis and adds in local geopolitical and cultural forces from all over the world. With lots of data and insight he covers the past and potential future trends. Water, food and temperature will increasingly move people to where the shifting economy, climate, and governmental policies will take them along with the most advantageous locales supporting their skills and lifestyle.

By studying what is working for some areas in the world Khanna suggests that "moving inland, upland, and northward and taking advantage of the latest advances in sustainability and mobility - we will not only evolve toward a new model of human civilization, but may even regain the confidence to revitalize our population." Yay!

[Ross Beck-MacNeil · Rating 1 out of 5]

(read as ebook)
I only read about a quarter of this book before giving up. From glaring factual inaccuracies to wild predictions and glib prescriptions, the book disappoints on multiple levels. For example, Khanna causaly throws out that Japanese life expectancy is 107 years. In fact, a quick Google search reveals that it is more like 85. Even ChatGPT gets this right. Khanna makes some pretty wild predictions about about how the world will respond to an aging population and global warming. The book would have been much better if it has focused on just a couple of the more interesting and realistic scenarios. Instead, Khanna keeps throwing out weirder and wilder scenarios in an almost offhanded way without providing any believable path to these scenarios. To top it off, Khanna's prescriptions can be both laughably simple and offensive. For example, he suggests that depopulated areas could be used as toxic and nuclear waste dumps.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

People are going to move.

1. People who can move, do. They mainly look for good lives for them and their families. Thus the brain drain of the smartest and richest from poor countries to the rich countries.

2. As rich countries’ birth rate is below replacement level, the great resignation of the boomers is going to cost a huge labor shortage. Immigration would be the only logical solution. Unless, of course, you just had Brexit. Then the restaurants would have no servers. Or chefs.

3. Migration always causes backlash. Even in Singapore where it’s a migrant country. And it generally encourages populists/nationalists to come to power. So it needs to be managed well.

4. The end results is that rich countries will become much more diverse but remain rich. Poor countries will stay poor and suffer the most from climate change.

I like this book.