William Pfaff
Possibly the most fashionable theme in current discussions of the future is whether China will replace
the United States as the leading world power. That it will do so seems to be taken for granted in pop-historical
circles, as well as among economic forecasters or futurists (who currently have a record that does not inspire confidence). A
"When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order"
by
The poverty of this argument is very striking. It assumes that the country with the largest industrial production rules the globe, and disregards nearly all that contributes to the human capacity to lead, which is to say, to create a dominant civilization. China and its rival
These are largely the creations of foreign investment, meant to produce goods for foreign markets. This obviously is not a situation that will continue indefinitely; the Indian and Chinese labor markets are already vulnerable to the available labor in poorer and less sophisticated societies. China and
Quality of civilization is what counts.
They also produced the ideas that dominated the age -- scientific ideas, ideologies of progress and governance, theories of human society and of the future. The world still lives on the intellectual legacy of Renaissance and Enlightenment Europe, as well as upon the political and philosophical legacy of
the United States developed from this
Obviously China in its great age was an immense civilization with innovative science and technology, whose moral as well as cultural influence shaped what we know now as the Far East.
Will Americans and Europeans in the coming century emulate and admire Chinese and Indian civilizations, learn from them, find themselves reduced to the status of satellites of
William Pfaff's latest book,
"The Irony of Manifest Destiny: The Tragedy of America's Foreign Policy"
(
Available at Amazon.com:
When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order
At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes
- Will China Rule the World?
- NATO's Future Involves More Global Partnerships
- Gloom Awaits U.S. Climate Diplomacy
- U.S. - U.K.: Difficult Duet in Afghanistan
- 'Pariah of the Pacific' Has Ham-handed Grip on Fiji
- Turkey Takes the Veil
- For Israel a Two-State Proposal Starts With Security
- Is It Too Late to Stop Iran
- The Middle East's Private Little War
- Reality and Reform for How the EU Keeps Its Peace
- Chancellor Angela Merkel's Sinking Support
- The Real Reason Why Afghanistan Is a Lost Cause
- The War Drones On
- When the 'Right War' Goes Wrong
- The Afghanistan Paradox
- Pakistan's Gambit in Afghanistan
- Obama Wasting Opportunities in Latin America
- Stopping Nuclear Proliferation Before It Starts
- Veiled Truths: The Rise of Political Islam in the West
- Steps to Stop Iran From Getting a Nuclear Bomb
- Iran: The Nuclear Containment Conundrum
- Iran: The Right Kind Of Containment
- China Is the Key to Handling Nuclear North Korea
- Coping With China's Financial Power
- What China's Currency Reform Means For Investors
- Russian-American Obstacles Overshadow Obama-Medvedev Meeting
- Russia's Courtship of Silicon Valley
- Ukrainian Blues: Viktor Yanukovych's Rise and Democracy's Fall
- Russia: Prisoners of the Caucasus
- The Afghan Challenge Is Far Tougher
- New Guard, Old Policy on Afghanistan
- Fear and Uncertainty in Afghanistan
- Afghanistan: Bribing the Enemy
- Afghanistan Poses Difficult Challenges
- Defining Success in Afghanistan
- Sad Stan, Famous Petraeus
- The Challenge of Reconciliation in Kenya
- The Tyranny of Unity in Zimbabwe
- Mexico: The New Cocaine Cowboys
- Under Santos Colombia Could Rise to the Next Level
- Autocrats' Latest Weapon: Indirect Censorship
- Latin America's Rich Should Be More Generous
- Castrocare in Crisis
(C) 2010 William Pfaff