The Next 100 Years

Welcome to “the American Age”

In 1900, it seemed to Europeans as if Europe would always dominate the world. By 1920, that was a lost dream. World War I had killed millions. Empires had vanished. Germany had fallen. Communism ruled Russia. Jump to 1940: Germany had recovered and had started a terrifying war. Jump to 1960: Germany had lost and ended up split in two. The U.S. and the Soviet Union maneuvered for domination. The possibility of nuclear war rumbled in the background. Jump to 1980: The U.S. had lost a war to tiny North Vietnam. America wanted so badly to thwart Soviet ambition that it allied with Communist China. Now, jump 20 more years: By 2000, the Soviet Union was gone. China said it was Communist, but capitalism spread across the country. On September 11, 2001, the world changed again when Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S.

In 1900, you would not have been able to predict the details of any of these world-changing events. However, if you had examined the situation from a geopolitical perspective, you would have been able to predict major trends, as is done here. “Geopolitical forecasting” makes two assumptions. First, it sees that people gather into ...