After Asia, who is next?

[vinceasneed]

Everyone is saying this century will be an Asian century. Most of the big economies will be Asia now. There will be other nations with economic clout but the majority will be in Asia. So if this is the case who do you think the 22nd century power will be? Will Africa rise up to be the new one? Will North America rebound? Or will we be totally shocked by something like Central America? It is quite interesting how the pendulum swings. Its impossible to know but its fun to predict.

 

[orangesunset]

The only certainty is there will be much uncertainty. 25 years ago the bad guys where the Soviet Union, and then almost overnight everything all came tumbling down.

If Africa gets itself straightened out, they have the potential to be the next big winner. They are close to European and Chinese markets and they have a lot of natural resouces. Also the demand for food is increasing in China, some parts of Africa are really fertile.

 

[DeltaForce103]

Sub-Saharan Africa has deeply rooted social problems, extreme poverty, frequent civil wars, rampant terrorism, political instability and large scale exploitation. Since the colonial era, most of the continent has remained in a state of anarchy or has been under the control of various failed states. Upliftment of the general population would require some form of stable democratic government.

I think African economic success, if it happens, will be through the effective use and regulation of their vast natural resources, not through the exploitation of cheap manufacturing and services industries as with Asia. This could lead to a unprecedented rate of growth in social and developmental indicators, especially median income. It's possible that this could happen in the later half of this century, especially with countries such as Nigeria.

Africa has a staggering amount of untapped manpower and resources along with a very young population, compare that to the aging and relatively utilized populations of developed and industrialized economies, and the already rapidly changing demographics of emerging economies and it seems the chances of the pendulum swinging their way is much higher. This would also lead to fairer global wealth distribution.

 

[orangesunset]

Just a stable government is required for sucess, not a stable democratic government. Hong Kong and South Korea initally started out as dictatorships. Eventually in South Korea as things inproved they overthrew the dictator.

A stable democracy requires an educated population which a lot of Africa lacks.

 

[DeltaForce103]

Just a stable government is required for sucess, not a stable democratic government. Hong Kong and South Korea initally started out as dictatorships. Eventually in South Korea as things inproved they overthrew the dictator.

A stable democracy requires an educated population which a lot of Africa lacks.

African countries have had a long line of dictatorships, some of them spanning decades, enough to be called stable. While a benevolent dictator is a possibility, it hasn't happened yet. A democratic, secular government with proper rights for minorities is crucial in the most ethnically and culturally diverse part of the world, as it could go a long way in preventing genocide and civil war. Countries like Nigeria have moved towards this goal considerably in the past years.

 

[globulon]

Who knows what the next century will bring? 100 years is a very long time and the development and fall of nations can occur without prediction. I see an Asian focus for a long time to come due to all the emerging nations there, such as China and India. Other Southeast Asian nations may emerge as well. Africa is definitely an option. Although they may be embroiled in regional conflicts and corruption, in a century's time, they may be able to pull themselves out of that and exploit their abundant resources.

 

[003]

This is really exciting to look forward because despite that the economies of the countries in Asia are improving at a fast rate, among the fastest in the history, we are yet to know if they'd be stable enough like those of countries in Europe and North America to provide a quality government service and life to their citizens. Their economy might just be fad like what's happening with China. For a decade they had the fast growing economy and now theirs is slowing down. I think we can't look at yet and expect great economies to spring up in some countries of Africa. Not yet, but it will come.

 

[kana_marie]

I think it's pretty optimistic to think we wouldn't have blown ourselves up by then. If we are still around I think it'll be North America. I think it's more than enough time to turn things in this country around and end up on top.

 

[TinVanMan]

I think it is really difficult to anticipate what revolutions will occur after other ones, but I can make some guesses. I would think that America has two options: Decide to change with times or go into a downward spiral. We are a stubborn country, so I'm not sure that even the worst case scenario would cause us to adopt ideas from other cultures. Probably Europe, who has been quite adept at changing with the times, in some places, will be a powerful place during and after the Asian Renaissance.

 

[zenfive]

I think it will definitely be Africa because of all the potential that they have. A young workforce, which is increasingly becoming more skilled and educated, increased investments in the continent from strong powers like China, and vast natural resources that can be processed into actual products and thus sold for more money rather than just exporting raw materials.

Of course ensuring sustainable growth for countries in this region will require strong leadership and sensible policies, but I definitely think it is doable.

 

[heavyinfantry]

That's an interesting question actually. There are two possiblities in my opinion:
- One could be that Japan/China takes the world's lead on economy and start ruling it like USA is doing now.
- Middle east rises up stronger than before with some new fancy economy.
I am incline to consider the first one more plausible because the Middle East will fall down inexorably when it comes to face the reality that oil is spent.