Thursday, March 23, 2006

Shift of Power

It has been a very long time since the United States of America has been the seat of Economic power. Probably, recongnised as one of the super powers in the beginning of the previous century and later after the collapse of the Soviet reigned as the sole power till date. But like all things the fag end of the US as the sole super power is fast approaching. It is time that this moves to the next generation (as of now presumably China and India).
One might wonder why I am saying this. Well this has been the norm from time we have started giving importance to wealth. We had the Incas and Mayas considered as the wealthiest and prior to even that we had the Harappan civilization, later the seat of power moved to east before the rise of Europe as the supreme power (especially the Brits). After which the power moved to the Americas and now the time is fast reaching for the change to occur.
One might ask me how we can even think of China and India as emerging with all the poverty in the countries. Well, one thing is for sure the definition of super power will change much but the infuence of these two countries on the world economy will be substantial, probably, even dictate. And that is why they might be the next super powers. Again, this is the picture one might get with the current state of affairs in the country but Time will be give out the final result. But the inevitable is that the Americas will lose its control on the world though not immediately.
This will be worth waiting for as this change happens around once in more than a century.

5 comments:

Ananth Narayan said...

So u are telling the seat of power is going around the earth..east to west..cyclic?

Vivek Venugopal B said...

Well, that might be the pattern. But more importantly I am saying that the shift of economic power is imminent.

luminous_infinitus said...

my .2cents..
Economic power shifts to a place where people work hard. where an average person puts his heart and soul into whatever he does - be it manual labour or high-end design or art.
I still think an average American works harder and smarter, is more disciplined, is more sincere than others.
America may never ever lose the edge if it continues to get the best of talent from all over the world.
Aren't they remotely making everyone in the world work for them/around them ?

None in the world gets anything for free, right ? i think many of us still do lesser than our potential and beg God for miracles.
We have potential. all we require is education and all the discipline that might come along with it. may be the society has to be a bit more liberal to let public think of innovation.

Div said...

I think we need to have two distinct but inextricable concepts separated: ecomonic power and large economy.

I guess we understand the difference here, and that India/China are heading towards 'large ecomomy'. Does this mean that these countries automatically become economic powers? Its not just about GDP growth is it? And then there are societal factors like per capita income, which form the fabric of a stable society.

Vivek Venugopal B said...

Even though the Americas are the super power in the world, Europe still has a big say in the world economy. Similarly when the power shifts now Americas will still have a big say.
Also, the definition of Super power will change. The new super power, if India or China or both, will not be completely developed as the US.
Secondly, India and China are in the fray now but will they become is the big question. The process has just began and it will be nearly 25-30 years before the actual change happens.