A Flat World

In fall of 2007, I attended a seminar on the decrease of America’s global hegemony. The presenter listed five phenomena that are involved in the fall of a nation: A change in the type of fuel the world uses, a halt in the mass movement of peoples of other countries to the hegemonic country, a concentration of the powers of church and state within the super power, a feeling of immortality by the hegemonic nation, and a over extension of the military resources of the hegemonic state.
In offering evidence for his theory, the presenter cited Great Britain as an example. He pointed out that up until the beginning of the twentieth century, most global industries depended on coal as their main source of energy, and Britain’s demand for coal was the greatest, not only because it was the super power, but also because its technologies were calibrated to run off coal. Consequently, when innovation called for oil, Britain was left behind.
But Britain’s fall also coincided with a shift in the mass migration of peoples to the United States of America. Hundreds of communities fled Europe in general and Britain specifically because of the oppression brought about by the combination of the powers of church and state. The overreach of the church is usually contingent on such a combination, and this is usually followed by an occupation with the illusory feeling of immortality as was demonstrated by the British.
Yet, that was not the greatest danger to the British hegemony. Lurking in the ambush was Britain’s depleted financial resources due to military overexposure: fighting the French, the Spanish and the Americans all at the same time or alternatively did not help to promote Britain’s standing, and so the United States of America rose.
But she too is now falling. America has repeated most of the mistakes made by previous super powers: She has overextended her military; equated and combined the powers of church and state; watched idly as the world shift from oil to so-called “clean energy”; watched its people and those of other nations rush interests to China, all at a time when America tries to convince herself that there will never be another super power.
And she may be right. But that right includes the fact that neither will she continues as such. No longer is the world a pyramid: According to Thomas Friedman, “The world is flat!” Postmodern technologies like the Internet, computer, wireless, fiber optic cables, PDAs, cell phones and companies like Google, Netscape, Microsoft and Yahoo have changed the world. The playing field is now leveled; no longer must the peoples of one country migrate to another country in search of opportunity. Financial and educational opportunities knock at the doors of everyone, and in his or her own country, giving rise to “Geeks” and multimillionaires all over the globe.
The extent of this is that China now manufactures and consumes more vehicles than the United States while surpassing Japan as the second largest economy in the world. The good news is that while China is rising rapidly, it is not the only country rising: So too is India, Brazil, Singapore, South Korea and many north American as well as European countries.
Friedman’s “ten forces that flattened the world” are creating a super world, not a superpower as we once knew it. Friedman notes that all this happened “in the last ten years.” And if it is true that changes of such magnitude can occur in such a short space of time, might we not be contemplating another paradigm shift in short order, even before the effects of this one settle in on us? And where might that leave our theory of “the world is flat”?