Who will dominate the 21st Century?

Last Updated on September 9, 2018 by Bharat Saini

21st Century belongs to Asian Countries as its proponents claim that the two most populous countries, China and India, which are expected to grow rapidly economically, are in Asia, and then it’s only natural that they will play a bigger role in the World’s affairs. Assuming certain demographic and persisting economic trends lead to forecasts that predict the rising economic and political strength of Asia and dominance of Asian politics and culture. The growing importance and actions of unity in Asia and maturing relationship within countries in the region further solidify this claim of creation of the 21^st Asian Century. This concept of Asian Century parallels the characterization of the 20^th century as the American Century, as the balance of power was with the US and the soviet Union from 1945 to 1991; whereas, the 19^th century as British Imperial Century, as British Empire was a superpower during the nineteenth century, controlling nearly a quarter of the World’s area and population. However, there is a school of thought that believes that the 21^st century will be Multipolar, and no one country or continent will have such a concentration of influence.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a 2011 study found that an additional 3 billion Asians could enjoy living standards similar to those in Europe today, and the region could account for over half of global output by the middle of this century. ADB expected Asia’s GDP to increase nine-fold from $16 trillion in 2010 to $148 trillion in 2050, accounting for half of global GDP by the middle of this so-called Asian century. It warned, however, that the Asian Century is not preordained due to the possibility that the continuing high rate of growth could lead to revolution, economic slumps, and environmental problems, especially in mainland China.

Asian countries have a growing feeling that the West is on the retreat, especially since the 2008 financial crisis, there is news of declining populations, big layoffs and economic meltdowns in several countries of the European Union. But there is also the other side of the story that there is no denying the fact that the United States of America, being the most populous of the Western countries continues to be the most productive and innovative in the world, as well as militarily the most powerful. There are reasons to believe that the West may continue to dominate the 21^st century:

• West’s combined GDP is several times than that of the rest of the world.
• West has accumulated massive financial resources.
• West has robust legal and administrative systems.
• Western people enjoy very high level of social security as well as democracy.
• Their life is much more secure and predictable.
• West attracts the most brilliant and creative minds from the rest of the world as it continues to have most of the finest educational and research facilities.

Asia to dominate the 21^st century needs a revolution in governance and public accountability to overcome seemingly insurmountable environmental, social and economic challenges. There appears to be some hope in growing public activism in India, sporadic protests in China, and certain positive signals in some other countries that suggest that such a revolution may unexpectedly come about.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often been reiterating that the 21^st century belongs to India and the world has begun to acknowledge the fact, as he addressed an 18,000 strong cheering crowd of Indian community members at the SAP Centre in California on September 28, 2015. And again on November 13, 2017 while addressing the Indian community in Manila, Philippines, Modi exhorted Indians to work hard to ensure that the 21^st century belongs to India and said his government was making every effort to transform the country and take it to new heights.