Waning American Dominance

January 31st, 2005 at 19:39 Björn Hallberg

Slate has a story on a possible future power balance as seen by the CIA. Strangely overlooked, the report concludes in short, and very correctly I might add, that within 15 years, the relative power position of the United States will be eroded beyond repair. Emerging nations like China, India, Brazil and Indonesia will pursue strategies that will accelerate this erosion. The report also concludes that the people in Asia are unlikely to ally themselves with the US and will most likely fall under Chinese dominion. And if there will be a need to emulate existing powers and seek alliances, the new players are much more likely to look to the European Union for a model of government. None of this is of course surprising but one should stop and consider the consequences.

Certainly the lofty talk about America bringing freedom to the world couldn’t be more wrong. The report also elaborates that Asian nations in particular aren’t so focused on democracy for democracy’s sake. They don’t share the passion of George W. Bush. They are more cool about the prospect and concerned with developing governing systems that work. Spoken like true technocrats. The more I see of this, the more I am convinced that the future of mankind lies in Asia and that Europe and the US are on the wrong track and have been so for the last 200 years or so. But then again they have been learning from our mistakes so at least it’s worth something.

The question is what the United States is going to do about it? Will they simply concede and admit defeat? Take a step back and forego the enormous benefits that the US reaps from having the dollar as a world currency? Doubtful! And no doubt the report is as underappreciated by state officials and policy-makers as it is by the media. The seriousness of the situation is of course that all of this can be resolved gracefully, if one starts out now. The longer the wait, the more likely a conflict will be. But I guess Americans will be enjoying their SUVs till the very last second and then go ballistic when the world has passed them by. And no American politician with any sense of self-preservation will be the bearer of bad news.

And speaking of accepting the impossible, Boston Globe has an elaborate piece entitled Oh yes, it can happen here. About the dangers of national debts, codependency and enjoying the benefits of a strong currency. Linked with the CIA report above, the US could be in for quite a shock in the near future. And so could the rest of the world.

Entry 26 filed under: North America. This entry was posted 3 years, 10 months ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.