Which country is going to be the next super power of the world?

China, they are well on their way. I do wonder if they will also accept the responsibility of being the world’s policeman, as the U.S. has (or tried) to do.

India is another one on the rise.

@rts486 China doesn’t care about justice within its own borders, can’t imagine they’d try to police the world at large.

Russia, as it will become the new supplier of energy through its L.P.Gas and Pressurized gas pipe lines. Its economy will ,soon, be a hard currency economy and its influence is growing in countries and regions , like the E.U., that depend on its provision of energy. Bodes ill for the world – but, then…history won’t care, eh?

China. The rest of the world should be grateful that they don’t have an expansionist foreign policy. (Yet)

@downtide May I inquire on what you base this ?

On their size and military strength. Can you think of a single other country that has the resources for a long-term military conflict with them?

China is going to be the next world superpower. However, in the nuclear age, the US, China, and Russia are so powerful that it could end the world if they decided to. The question of what will become the most powerful country is no longer applicable.

@downtide I don’t think that any other country would entertain the concept of a long term military engagement with them. Either internal fomentation of revolution or nuclear strike. I don’t , however, consider that criteria to be dispositive of the question. Japan, a few years back, became a major player without such concerns playing a part.

Deffez India and Brazil

这是中国 (China).

@sarahhhhh Quite a possibility. If they, either or both, can overcome certain difficulties with internal dissent and external debt.

@throssog I don’t think that is much of a problem for either country right now. They are both such giant and growing economic powers that everyone wants a piece of them. Especially India. You’ll notice how the USA has recently started to visit and develop relations with India at a very fast pace.
Everyone wants that market of over 1bn population to open up to them and give them a piece of their juicy business. Go India. I’m proud of the country.

You mean after China? Based upon balance of trade and government programs I’m betting on Germany.

@sarahhhhh Yes, everybody wants a piece of India,,,until they get it. Having lived in India ( Mysore,Mumbai, Bangalore) I found that corruption and inefficiency were rampant and not root-out-able. The latest bombings, in Mumbai, following the earlier Taj Hotel attack, would tend to indicate that India has problems that may well impede it progress, imho. But, all that said – I do love the place!
Brazil is mired in corruption and racial/social inequalities that make it a prime candidate for revolution and social upheaval of the most devastating sort. Perhaps conditions in both countries can be/will be changed. I rather hope so.

I don’t think there is going to be a next superpower. We are headed toward multi-polar power. The so called BRIC nations (Brazil,Russia,India and China) will be key players, as will the U.S. and European Union, and maybe some day Argentina, if it ever gets its act together. No single nation will be able to take on the combined strength of the rest of the world. We are too interconnected for one country to be able to call the shots.

China, as has already been stated.
Although watch out for little Liechtenstein, a dark horse that one & no mistake.

@LostInParadise How do you see the role of E.U. in light of its dependence upon Russian energy supplies? Argentina may become a player but only, imo, if it can shake loose from its economic troubles and Hedalgo ruling class structure.

The US will remain King of the sandbox for a long time coming. No other country has the international relationships that we have. No way a communist or socialist country has the power, resources and influence to do what we can do to make things happen around the world.

@Cruiser I’m not an expert on economic, or government issues, but I also think the U.S. is too big to topple so easily.

I’m guessing it will be Google. Eventually a majority of the population will be employed by them and living on their floating datacenters, and everyone else will be dependent on them to get anything done.

Those are some really good answers people.

Not China as long as they remain a totalitarian country.

Totalitarian countries can’t be superpowers for very long. The best examples are the Roman Empire and the Soviet Union.

Maybe the next superpower is a network of countries across continents which are best at dealing with the challenges of the 21st century.

Maybe it’s a network of NGOs. The wisdom of the crowds have a great future.

I say China’s economy collapses worse than the US’ in 5 years or less.

I have no idea who the next super power will be. I do kind of agree with @mattbrowne that I think it might be NGO’s. It’s so crazy, it just might work!

I’m interested in watching the evolution of the European Union.

But, probably China as everyone states. Not sure how long they will be the big superpower though. I also don’t think America, or at least the majority of Americans, will ever perceive or acknowledge them as the superpower if it does happen. I think America will continue to stay very powerful for a while. I like to think that the world will have fewer superpowerful coutries, and there will be more equilibrium in the world. That more and more countries are prosperous, safe, and doing well, and there is no need to be competitive over power, land, economy, and freedom. I know, idealist.

Quite are few people saying china is going to take over in 2019.

@sophiesword But, what does that mean? Take over?

Not take over the world but its going to topple the u.s economy in this year and become the sole super power of the world.

No way. China’s economy right now is just as precarious as many other countries of the world. There making gains at a ridiculous rate and they’re making them from borrowed money. I think it’s gonna be a sad day when China’s economy collapses because of the strain that it will have on those borrowing from it (the US and Africa) and countries that are importing massive amounts of raw materials there (Australia).

United North America. We (Canada) supply the oil and water, you supply the greedy Wall Street bankers, and Mexico supplies the party drugs.circa 2065. And we also supply Justin Bieber as long as you want him.

@sophiesword Not gonna happen anytime soon….inflation as in hyper inflation will soon cripple China big time. They have so many internal financial problems 5 times worse than we ever will. They are just good at keeping their problems out of the news. They are no longer the cheap labor force they once were…..low wage labor jobs are leaking out of their country like crazy and going to Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia. The Chinese got a whiff of Capitalism and that has infected their desire to work for peanuts anymore. Their labor force is demanding health care too. We all know what that does to the cost of goods sold!

China is a contender, but the other waning superpowers are (thankfully) far to attached to the concepts of freedom and human rights to allow a nation with China’s attitudes in that regard to gain too much global influence.

China has yet to invent one significant thing. Last time was around the 9th century when they invented gunpowder. Cheap manufacturing is a dead end. This will be done by robots in 2030.

It is true that cheap manufacturing is a dead end. But China has the ability to produce world class “knowledge workers” as well. They also have a tenacity and a grasp of long term multi-generational goals that we in the west don’t seem to posses.

They have begun to produce world class knowledge workers, yes. And it’s also true that they are less concerned about short-term profits. But there’s still a long way to becoming a superpower.

@YoBob China is the largest trading partner for Japan, Korea and Vietnam. It has also signed diplomatic treaties with countries in the Pacific, such as South Korea and Australia, that in the event of a Sino-US war, they won’t take sides and will wait it out. And these countries are traditional US allies.

Despite China’s human rights and freedom record, it is more likely that the world will accommodate it rather than confront it over such concerns.

@atlantis

“they won’t take sides and will wait it out”
...

“Despite China’s human rights and freedom record, it is more likely that the world will accommodate it rather than confront it over such concerns”

Yep, this is what I meant by their ability to grasp the concept of multi-generational goals. They are quite content to sit on the sidelines and let everyone else fight it out while they silently gain power as a result (and without having to bother with that whole human rights thing either).

I don’t know who it will be but it ought to be the United Nations.

@YoBob I don’t think you can produce very effective “knowledge workers” in a country that won’t let you Google “Tiananmen square massacre.” To be competitive intellectually, the country would need to radically alter it’s philosophy on how it can discuss ideas. Hell, no one in China could even read this post about how to improve itself because it would be blocked.

You cannot have a country full of innovators when everyone is taught never to question the status quo, or the authority in charge. Just about every successful major US corporation was founded on the idea of questioning how things work or the way things needed to be run. This is particularly so in the modern technology age.

I also agree with @mattbrowne that cheap manufacturing is a dead end. There will always be another country where you can exploit cheap labor. As China’s economy continues to grow, they will have an ever-increasingly difficult time keeping their currency artificially low by manipulating the markets. When this happens you’re going to start seeing iPhones made in Brazil, or elsewhere.

Additionally, as fossil fuels become increasingly scarce, the cost of transpacific shipping will begin to make Asian manufacturing much more expensive than closer sources such as Mexico, Brazil, etc.

India or China.

Brazil is probably the most stable economically and politically, but they don’t have the social status to become the next superpower. I think the superpower concept is probably not going to be common in the future because of the www. We are now seeing the emergence of more international conglomerates, so the corporate world is becoming the superpower of the 21st century, so far.

@YARNLADY Ah, I do believe you’ve hit it. The trans-national corporation is, imho, the wave of the future. In fact they just about control the world today. Who would have thought that the “humble beginnings” of the British East India Company would evolve into the “7 Sisters”? But it , the concept, did.

The US could remain in the position if we could dispense with the belief that you can cut your way to strength. It doesn’t work for nation states any better than it does for exercise programs. Get the body of your dreams by cutting off each part in turn that is least like your dream for it? I don’t think that’;s going to work.

If we stay on the tranck of slashing all investment in the future to give ever greater benefits to the wealthiest among us, there are several countries poised for greatness. Could be the EU finally gets its act together; although they have serious barriers in language and ethnic distrust. Could be China or India. It’s hard to predict.

@ETpro – There is a rather large difference between the obese loosing weight by trimming the fat and the rather absurd notion of doing so by cutting off a limb.

Just as an individual can’t live beyond their means by borrowing indefinitely to cover the shortfall, our nation simply can’t continue to borrow money to fund programs at the level we have been accustomed to and expect to remain solvent in the long term.

@YoBob That is true, but are we the obese? We ar #26 in infrastructure now. We’re number 37 in healthcare outcomes even though our costs per person are nearly twice what all the rest of the world is. We were the natiworld’s largest lender nation for years. Now we are the world’s largest debtor nation largely through tax cutting for the wealthy and ever more loopholes for those best off among us. We have off-0shored our manufacturing jobs for cheapper labor elsewhere. That doesn’t look like it’s leading to greater and great heights. It’s leading us toward being a third world country with a tiny oligarchy who are incredibly wealthy.

You see, our problem isn’t that we are living beyond our means. We have p[lenty of wealth to afford to be a great nation. We have just been lured by the new Santa Claus on the block who just gives money. Only surprise, surprise, each tax cut for you is tiny. Each one for the wealthiest 1% is enormous. The Bush tax cuts benefited each one of the richest 400 families in America more in one your than the average college graduate will earn in total in their entire lifetimes.

China or India. I think they are a given. It’s just a matter of when.

It has already begun. Apparently the success of China’s economy is driving up wages and therefore making them too expensive for cheap manufacturing. Foxcon’s CEO just announced they’re going to replace 1 million of their 1.2 million Chineese workforce with robots.

@gorillapaws , I am not quite sure what that is a sign of. Increasing wages in China is good for workers in Western nations. On the other hand, replacing complaining workers with robots is not good for workers.

@LostInParadise I think it’s just evidence of @mattbrowne‘s point that cheap manufacturing is a dead end, and not the kind of industry you can build a long term superpower economy around.

How do you think Florida and California will look all decked out in authentic Chinese culture? Sad, but USA may become like a Monopoly board game with Boardwalk and Park Place taken hostage for debt collection. Of course, by then all of North America would be in the hands of anti democratic rule.

China-It has a huge undeveloped Land Mass and if this is developed it could easily overtake the USA as a Super Power-people are also getting more interested in Chinese Culture It would be nice if the World did not have Super Powers but it seems throughout History All Super Powers have risen and fallen but why is the USA failing so badly with the recession-Isn’t it true that a Leader makes his Country?

why is the USA failing so badly with the recession-Isn’t it true that a Leader makes his Country?

No.

If a Leader does not make his Country then what is the point in having a President or Primeminister at all?They are the ones who get the last say on passing important Laws or choosing whether or not to enter into conflicts and Wars which cost a great deal of money and lives.That is why people talk about “The Thatcher and Reagan Era” or “The Nixon Era” .Popular Presidents pass popular Laws such as Aneurin Bevin who established the British NHS.I really think if President Obama helped to pass a Healthcare Law enabling all USA Citizens to have some kind of low-paid in Healthcare, even if only for emergency situations ,or those on low-incomes he would be remembered as a very Popular President .He would be the First American President to have really made a difference in founding affordable Healthcare for All American Citizens .The NHS was set-up in Great Britain after The Second World War, a time of great economic recession itself-yet somehow Aneurin Bevan suceeded in Passing Healthcare Laws to fund the NHS-So I don’t see why it would be impossible for President Obama to do the same?He seems like a nice guy.

@gr8teful We’ve got a growing cadre of right-wing people here in the USA who have been convinced by propaganda spit out by would-be oligarchs who have billions to fund Think Tanks and PR Firms to craft their message, that the way to perfectin is to eliminate as much government as possible. Do nothing for the poor, get rid of all regulation, and pass all the savings on to the richest people in the nation. That is the real agenda they push.

Funny, the dupes that fall for that message could just book a cheap flight to Somalia and enjoy the incredible benefits of having no government, no regulations, and no taxes on the rich right now. But I never see a line at the airport waiting for the next flight to Mogadishu.

@ETPro, GA!!!