By Anneloes van Iwaarden
The outlook for US dominance in world affairs in the 21st century looks very bleak, a leading American intelligence agency has concluded.
According to the National Intelligence Council (NIC) report, “the whole international system—as constructed following WWII—will be revolutionized. Not only will new players—Brazil, Russia, India and China— have a seat at the international high table, they will bring new stakes and rules of the game.”
This is a very different picture to the one Lord Patten paints in his new book ‘What next? Surviving the Twenty-First Century’.
Speaking to over 400 students from the London School of Economics (LSE) on Wednesday, the Lord referred to today as being ‘the new world’ with America as its prime architect.
Despite the growth of Asian powers and America’s loss of moral authority during the Iraq war, Lord Pattens believes that the United States will remain the only super-power in the world.
“Open up any newspaper in any country. America is still the only country in the world that matters everywhere,” said Lord Patten.
End of leadership?
To my question of whether he gave any merit to views of the end of American leader-status in the world, the Lord brusquely answered “no, not very much.”
Lord Patten downplayed the power of India and China as shapers of the 21st century, stating: “We must be aware of the problems facing India and China and we shouldn’t assume that this exponential economic growth will last forever, just look at the Japanese example in the 1980s.”
I suppose it is all a matter of identity.
If the world still believes the United States to be the most important player in world affairs despite evidence to the contrary, the United States will remain the most important player in world affairs.
But in the unlikely event of powerful players deciding not to look to the United States for leadership, we might see a very different 21st century.
