What are the first signs of the decline of an Empire?

Question

Are we seeing them now?

Answer 1

The usual answer would be a collapse of infrastructure. That's more or less how the Roman Empire fell, when the provinces were depleted of competent local government. The Soviet Union experience a similar collapse as the amount of funding on the military drained away from the domestic economy.

Is the United States heading for a similar collapse? Possibly. A lot of our urban areas are pretty much drained of tax revenue as the affluent moved to the suburbs. Some cities have made efforts to combat the deterioration of the inner city, but many have left them neglected. However, given that the country as a whole still has electrical power, telephone service, and sewage treatment, along with reasonably decent roadways, I doubt that the nation is headed towards a truly national calamity in the next few years.

Answer 2

I don't remember where I read it, but I read that a sure sign is when a new generation comes along that is less educated, less knowledgeable than the previous generation.

As a high school teacher, I have no doubt that we reached that point a long time ago in the United States. Aside from technological saavy or knowledge, the kids of today know nothing. In U.S. cities the problem is especially bad. The extremely low test scores for tests such as the SAT will tell you everything. Basic knowledge of grammar, math, science, and particularly the humanities is at an all time low. This type of intellectual decline signals that an empire has long reached its apex and can no longer sustain or replicate the achievements, conquests, or innovations of the past.

Also, a sure sign is the decreasing influence of a dominant, unifying language and culture. Globalism is seeing to this one. The U.S. and the great European nations are quickly being infused with populations whose children will move further and further from the once dominant culture, language and heritage.

Just ask the average American teenager traditional or folkloric questions, questions that previous generations of Americans knew, and considered common knowledge; they will be baffled.

Lastly, the people lose faith. The British used to rever the "Empire", and then slowly it began to be a word that no longer inspired pride, patriotism, or confidence, but rather controversy, argument and cynicism.

Right or wrong, the early feats and accomplishments of an empire feed it and nurture it. When those dissappear, it begins to whither. None of this is good or bad. It's just life. It's history.

Answer 3

Growing complacency and apathy among citizens of the empire. People become too concerned with enjoying the benefits of empire to take the trouble to maintain it. (i.e. low voter turnout %, unwillingness to properly fund education, infrastructure or defense.)
Rising numbers of persons dependent entirely upon the government for sustenance.
Ever-increasing complexity of bureaucracy and legal system to the point where nothing can be resolved or accomplished in a reasonable amout of time, if at all. The ultimate expression of this is political gridlock (sound familiar?)
Dilution of the dominant culture that originally produced the empire, due to massive immigration from outside. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the culture does change, and the driving philosophy behind the empire weakens.

Yep, it's happening.

Answer 4

A critical sign of decline is the rise of a paranoid obsession with national security, particularly at the expense of the rights previously guaranteed to citizens.

A second sign of decay is when the citizens of an empire have grown so complacent and decadent that they no longer to care to actively participate in their government. They prefer that an imperial leader run the country on their behalf. Citizens only lose their rights when they no longer care enough to demand them.

A third sign of decay is a failure to adequately cope with increased immigration and to control the flow of goods and persons across one's borders.

A fourth sign of decay common to most empires is the commencement of a costly, largely needless, conflict for objectives that remain poorly defined if not outright unclear.

It would appear that the present superpower is experiencing these and other symptoms of decline.

Answer 5

Good question. I would think big shows of unnecessary military force would be a good indicator. That shows that an empire is doing everything it can to make itself look strong and make everyone afraid of it. Probably because the empire itself is afraid.

Repeated increases in taxes are also a good sign that an empire is draining its money supply.

Fewer and fewer jobs and a bad economy in the home base country of the empire is also telling. Anarchaic conditions in the empire's capital are also a sure sign of impending collapse.

Answer 6

I am only 12 but in history i learned a lot abt empires and the'r declines.............
1. inflation
2. unemployment
3. loss of basic needs
4. WAR
5. corruption in the government



i think that in 150 years the U>S>A will be dead

Answer 7

When it gets too big for its britches. The Roman Empire was freaking huge. It expanded from what is now modern day Italy to other parts of Europe and into North Africa and the Middle East. It got too big to rule by one independent emperor, even with various governors ruling the vast parts of the empire and add on all the immigrants from various nations coming to live in this huge area (we can now see that in illegal immigration here in the U.S.).

Answer 8

Hillary Clinton

Answer 9

Paris Hilton

Answer 10

The idea of value destruction and cosmic purposelessness seems to be the only true meaning of life. With that kind of attitude, there seems to be no hope. The patterns of nihilism and so much "negativity" in the world seem to be conspicuous features of collapsing civilizations.