*Question of the day* Is Africa or China (or somewhere else) going to be the next world power?

Question

China's economy, military and MFGing are booming, but can Communist China succeed where the USSR failed?
Africa is currently in strife, but if united would it have the population and resources to compete and succeed in the world markets?
EU has it seen its best, or is it still to come?
Will Australia get its act together to improve it's vast deserts and incorporate other Australasian nations into an economic power?

What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

dude, china already beat USSR. better tech. better weapon. largest army.. they r kicking ***. but probably not the strongest world power because their povernment is fuked up cause i am a chinese and i know how the gov works.... so unless they change the government and the population gets.... nicer? smarter? they will definally kick ***

Answer 2

China will be the next world power. The have a population large enough to militarially support any 'radical' decisions. Despite the oppressive government, they are starting to move forward technologically and economically. They will become the next superpower (as they are already a world power). Africa will not unite, there is too much racial strife and history of violence. With the way Europeans drew the borders in Africa, it is a miracle if one country can unite let alone the entire continent. Some countries may come together, (some already have) and become players on the world stage, but I cannot forsee the continent ever becoming one.

Answer 3

Shortest answers first.
Australia: No. Australia remains mostly neutral, and doesn't appear to want much more than that.

Africa: No. If the nations of Africa ever stop bickering, they will face two insurmountable obstacles: 1) a disease-ravaged populace and 2) a huge technology deficit.

India: No. India wasn't mentioned in the question, but many of the answerers included it, so I'll put in my two cents. India's biggest problem? Pakistan, their nuclear neighbor to the northwest. India and Pakistan are still at each other's throats. Therefore, India, even with a booming population and bountiful technology, can't focus on becoming anything more than a World Power.

EU: No. Many of the nations of the EU have democratic governments (as opposed to a US-style republic). It is IMMENSELY difficult to take a democracy on a war of conquest. Case in point, Spain pretty much pulled out of the "War on Terror" after the Madrid train bombings because 50%+1 wanted that. The EU will splinter if it attempts conquest.

China: Maybe. While China certainly has the manpower and stolen technology to perform a coup d'etat, they are held in check by the US. If China were to strike at the US, their biggest customer would drop economic sanctions on them in a flash, not to mention ordnance, both conventional and "tactical". In fact, China and the US are currently engaged in a struggle similar to the post-WWII Cold War. China's support of nations seeking to produce nuclear weapons, such as N. Korea and Iran, is an attempt to gain nuclear-equipped allies (N. Korea will be to China what the UK is to the US). China's best hope is to continue growing economically, although that will mean a shift from Communism to Capitalism and a real Democracy or Republic, so it may not matter by then.

Answer 4

it is an interesting question.
Africa is too far behind, unless they form an alliance with other nations...perhaps the Arabs, though Russia and China are making strong overtures in the region.
Australia has the disadvantages of being dry and having a tiny population yet has large reserves of resources, including two thirds of the worlds uranium. Logically, Indonesia and the Philippines, among others nearby, would make sound partners but there is no common ground.
The EU has been a botch up, and will be so from start to finish. There is no end in sight to the problem of too many economic refugees.
India and China. Two capable nations brought to their knees by the weight of their populations. They can not feed their people.
China walks the world stage at the moment but, I believe, is heading for a fall. India will underperform for many years to come.
So where does that leave us?
In my opinion...AIDS, the flu, and global warming.
And more wars. Over water.

Answer 5

I think that A: The U.S's time is coming. If you look at all the previous world powers like Napoleon and France, they fell at Waterloo. Great Brittan, Lost in the Revolutionary War. The U.S. may not lose in a battle, we may lose in economic failure. B: China will not stay Communist. As the years pass, they're economy is becoming more capitalistic. Eventually they will slowly change to Democracy. C: Africa at the current time would still most likely fail even if they joined. D: The EU at the present time is not a major factor in anything ( kind of like the UN ) E: Australia and Asia will most likley not join together, therefore not be a significant factor in the world.

Answer 6

Personally, I think that China has potential, but it's biggest asset will bring it down: the large population. Anytime in history a large amount of people were congregated the way the Chinese are, something happened (usually plague i.e. the Black Death) or a castrophe (natural or otherwise). I think most of the Chinese population will be reduced dramatically and it will turn out like the USSR, a bunch of small waring states. The US has to turn around soon or we'll follow Rome. I think the next big thing might show up in Central America. Laugh if you will, but Mexico has potential if they can clean up their politics. Canada and Australia prefer to stay away from the limelight. The Africans will make peace when the Palestanians and Isrialites do so don't hold your breath.

Answer 7

So technically speaking, China already is a world power among others, however the United States is the only world superpower. According to trends and estimations, China is logically the next country to join the United States in its status.
While Africa probably could not unite like mentioned in the question, the African Union does theoretically hope that this will happen.
Europe certainly has problems, however it is a much more stable area than the Middle East (Israel/Palestine, Iran), Africa (Various regions of conflict, particularly the Darfur conflict), and much of East Asia (North Korea, Kashmir).
Austrailia unfortunately needs to deal with its rabbit problems somehow and currently seems geographically isolated from other wealthy nations.

Answer 8

I spent 14 years representing ministries and provincial governors from China in negotations with the west.

Every time I brought a chinese official to the US the first thing the American did was size them up visually, financially and based upon their language barrier. The consistent answer I got was "there is no business here -- these people don't even speak good English".

Americans are fat, arrogant and lazy. 1/4 of Chinese speak english -- courses are shown daily on Chinese television. But is there any belief or concern within the USA that we should learn Mandarin or even a few of the Chinese customs?

China will be the next world power not because of what they can do, but because the USA has stopped trying. Our bosses have shipped our jobs to Asia, literally given them to the Chinese.

Why ask the man on the street who will run the world -- why not ask the President of AT&T or Hewlett Packard? They gave our jobs to Asia in the 90's, it's just a matter of time before they relocate their headquarters there as well.

Answer 9

China will be the next superpower, no doubt. If they don't simply beat the U.S. economically then they'll team with Russia and other smaller powers around the World to take out the U.S. through military action. I'm sure they'll do it simply by beating us economically though. I mean, the U.S. is basically what has made China a power ... without all the imports from them they would just be a hugely populated, extremely poor country, much like India.

Answer 10

China is already a world power and could probally wipe the USA and Canada off the world map if they really wanted too.

Africa as a continent will never unite as a whole, Alot of countries in Africa have the compatibility to compete and succeed in world markets.

Answer 11

Africa won't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it through in our lifetime. Africa is going through what Europe went through in the Middle Ages with no end in sight. You can write them off on uniting and amounting to anything in the next 50-60 years. China on the other hand has remarkable potential. They are reaping the benefits of the latest technology that has been reverse engineered from things they've stolen from more advanced countries. Couple that with their immense population and the money to buy whatever those wonderful underpaid Russian weapon scientists can build and you have a superpower in the making. One key thing to remember about China though. Of their 1.4 or so billion people roughly 60% of them live in areas that would be devastated by blowing up the brand new Three Gorges dam along with other key dams etc. So, don't look for them to go getting too big for their britches anytime soon either.