Global Trends 2015

7 Pages 1732 Words

Global Trends 2015: Life After Pax Americana

Global Trends 2015 paints a picture, which I believe to be congruent with Charles Kupchan’s article “Life After Pax Americana. Population increases are predicted to increase by over 1 billion, yet globalization – the use of technology to make the globe increasingly smaller – continues to integrate and connect the globe. After assessing the drivers and trends discussed throughout the dialogue, I feel over the course of the next decade a global landscape will emerge in which, “power and influence are more equally distributed across the globe” (Kupchan).
Global demographic trends remain a factor. “The world population will increase by more than a billion by 2015, with 95 percent of that growth occurring in the developing world.” Yet in the developing-world urbanization will continue to boom, with approximatly 20-30 million of the world’s poorest people migrating to urban areas each year. These global trends will have lasting implications that will vary by state and region. Economically poorer states, or those with weak governance and infastructure, will encounter additional strains on their resources, infrastructures, and leadership. Many will attept to cope with the effects of globalization, and some will fail. At the same time, “some advanced and emerging market states – including key European and Asian allies – will be forced to reexamine longstanding political, social, and cultural precepts as they attempt to overcome the challenges of rapidly aging populations and declining workforce cohorts. In these and other cases, dem!
ographic pressures will remain a potential source of stress and instability.” (Defense Intelligence Agency)
In general, globalization is a positive force that will increase most of the world’s population’s standard of living, but for some, “globalization will exacerbate local and regional tensions, increase the prospects and capa...