Who Will Survive in America?

[Mr Cat Dog]

It's probably still fair to say that the US is the only 'superpower' in the world, at this moment in time. But do you think this will still be the case in 10 years time? What about 50 years time, or even 100 years time? Will BRIC countries like China and India have more global pulling power? Will the world be full of supranational bodies like the EU? Or will the US stand to overpower all of them for the foreseeable future?

(KWC #12)
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[Livewire]

I do think with the rise of the EU, the rest of the world will try to align themselves into blocs, similar to what NATO and the Soviet Bloc were before the end of the cold war. OPEC, the EU, The Arab league, etc.

If America were to fall (As a unified entity), though, the economic blowback would take the rest of the world down with it.

 

[Alley Cat]

[SIZE="a"]The state of the world is in one of those positions where any war would be completely unadvised. Where on such a steep cliff we only need a little push to get us rolling into something pretty bad.[/SIZE]

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I'm not sure if we'll survive another 100 years...we will need a great leadership (not just a presidential leader but congress( and the supreme court too in some cases)) to pull this nation up but it's been done before so who knows, the future is difficult to predict without being psychic...
Also American industries and companies comitted similar abuses in the 1800's as indrustrailizing China is doing now,I'm sure that will change in the future when more people demand rights or if they manage to peacefully overthrow the communist party.

 

[Livewire]

No empire lasts forever, history teaches us this. How long America's run at the top is lies solely on its people and the decisions the government makes.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

I do think with the rise of the EU, the rest of the world will try to align themselves into blocs, similar to what NATO and the Soviet Bloc were before the end of the cold war. OPEC, the EU, The Arab league, etc.

If America were to fall (As a unified entity), though, the economic blowback would take the rest of the world down with it.

I think the EU may be a bit in the decline...

 

[arbok]

I think the EU may be a bit in the decline...

Everything depends on the smaller nations for a change. France and Germany can't do much to save it if the smaller nations don't listen. The UK also needs to decide if it's in or out soon, no more sitting on the sidelines.

Give it 50 years and China and India will have the same influence as the USA. If the US splits into diffrent nations then its time as a superpower ends, as shown with the USSR.

 

[Esper]

I can easily see China and India having more of a say in what goes on in the world (and China already does), but I expect to see a lot of regional 'superpowers' like Brazil and maybe South Africa, who would have a lot of influence over how those parts of the world develop.

I'm kind of hopeful that China will clean up its human rights record. When I think about what a county like the US was like 50 years ago and how today there is mass media everywhere, even inside restrictive China, I can't see common people being okay with the abuses that China is committing for much longer. When it cleans that up it will become a superpower no doubt because it will have the economy and other countries will be a lot less hesitant to deal with it.

 

[Alec Empire]

No, definitely not.
China is the top dog in terms of economic power.
But China seems to be over-industrializing itself, and as a result, most of the western side of the country is suffering drastically.

 

[donavannj]

No, definitely not.
China is the top dog in terms of economic power.
But China seems to be over-industrializing itself, and as a result, most of the western side of the country is suffering drastically.

Numerous GDP statistics would beg to differ with you. China is not the top dog yet. America still has a disproportionate share of the world's economic power and presently has a higher GDP than any entity in the world save for the EU, which is barely ahead of the US at the moment due to the EU being mired in some economic turbulence itself. China still has about a decade to go before it is top dog economically by sheer GDP numbers, and many years after that before its GDP per capita attains first-world status. And bear in mind that it was because the US economy crashed in 2007/2008 that many places in the world are still experiencing economic turbulence.

Everything depends on the smaller nations for a change. France and Germany can't do much to save it if the smaller nations don't listen. The UK also needs to decide if it's in or out soon, no more sitting on the sidelines.

Give it 50 years and China and India will have the same influence as the USA. If the US splits into diffrent nations then its time as a superpower ends, as shown with the USSR.

I do mostly agree with your assessment of the EU's current state, though I take issue with your assumption that the US even can dissolve into different nations. Once a territory or commonwealth opts for statehood status, it can never secede from the Union peacefully. The last time any state tried to secede (the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865), it resulted in a long and bloody war with none of those states leaving the Union in the end, and that war established precedent that no state can leave the union unless it wants to fight a war with the United States military. Each US state is also very culturally intertwined with each other, and there's a kinship among Americans that's considerably stronger than any sort of kinship those in Scotland feel toward the Welsh or the English within the United Kingdom.

 

[Dawn]

China... All I can think about when I think about the notion that China is supposedly going to become a world super power is a wise old adage about money not being everything. Their quality of life is much lower than the economic success they're experiencing right now would suggest. I think it's probably fair to say they aren't becoming a world superpower anytime...soon. Perhaps if they continue cleaning up their act without destroying that economic success in the process. That has yet to be seen, though.

I don't know enough about India to say anything, unfortunately.

Meanwhile though, Americans tend think much worse of America than foreigners with the exceptions of foreign outsider-haters which are an exception. What I'm saying is that America is extremely self-concious compared to other parts of the world, which is actually a good thing in regards to remaining a superpower. (And a bad thing if you don't like to listen to people COMPLAIN all the time. ;O /shot) I foresee the USA attempting to lead world technology in the future, making that their method of remaining extremely influential, and the chances of the USA remaining /a/ superpower, not necessarily the only one, are the highest of anything I could bet.

 

[Alec Empire]

Numerous GDP statistics would beg to differ with you. China is not the top dog yet. America still has a disproportionate share of the world's economic power and presently has a higher GDP than any entity in the world save for the EU, which is barely ahead of the US at the moment due to the EU being mired in some economic turbulence itself. China still has about a decade to go before it is top dog economically by sheer GDP numbers, and many years after that before its GDP per capita attains first-world status. And bear in mind that it was because the US economy crashed in 2007/2008 that many places in the world are still experiencing economic turbulence.

Wow, really?
I love how the media gave me completely different and incorrect info. Thanks.

 

[donavannj]

Wow, really?
I love how the media gave me completely different and incorrect info. Thanks.

I've gotten my information from here:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html

Pretty reliable source when comparing the here and now, and predicting future powers, I'd say.

I think the US is bound to stay among the world superpowers for at least half a century yet due to factors like immigration and having a high rate of advanced technology generation. China will definitely be among those superpowers, but it's somewhat of a tossup as to who else will actually emerge as truly powerful, as countries with great potential like India and Brazil (to name a few) continually hit bumps in the road on the path to superpower status, and many of them not really standing out from their neighbors due to many similarities in GDP and total populations (India is basically on China's doorstep, so it can't project its influence very readily even in its own neighborhood, while Brazil doesn't really have much sway in South America due to not sharing a common language with its most influential neighbors). I can certainly see a changing of the guard for regional powers in a few regions, if the countries can stabilize themselves. Pakistan has a lot of potential being a very fast growing country in terms of population (it's estimated by the CIA to have gained about 50 million inhabitants between 1998 and 2011), but it's presently not terribly stable.

 

[Livewire]

No, definitely not.
China is the top dog in terms of economic power.
But China seems to be over-industrializing itself, and as a result, most of the western side of the country is suffering drastically.

Don already cleared it up, but China is far from a world leader yet. While it is certain that they possess a powerful economy, the infusion of capitalism within their communist system has sewn seeds of dissent against their old system. Not to mention, the majority of the Chinese people live in almost absolute poverty. They have a ways to go yet before they can catch the US.

 

[Psycho Bugler]

I study political and human geography in my degree. By 2020, India will have the most populated country on the planet beating China which will fall into third. Nigeria will be the second most populous country.

As of right now, I think that China, U.S.A., E.U., and Russia are currently the four greatest powers in the world. Trailing closely behind are Japan, Australia, India, and Canada in particular. If the U.A.E. keeps growing the way it has been then I think they could easily join the "Big Three" which used to be reserved for U.S.A., China, and the E.U., since Russia has recently been regarded as a declining state however I consider it (along with many of my colleagues) to still have a huge foothold in the global economy and most of foreign relations that the U.S. deals with is with Russia in some way or other.

It is also speculated that there will be a global economic catastrophic collapse in 2030 assuming there are no major wars comparable to WWII.

Until then we can't say for sure. Demographics are constantly changing. Economics can never be an exact science, because it's based on human nature which is completely random as we've seen in historical records.