After a very long struggle and in the midst of a serious ecological crisis, the still dominant empire — the United States — will finally be defeated around 2035 by this same globalization of the markets (particularly the financial ones), and by the power of corporations. Financially and politically exhausted, like all other empires before it, the United States will cease to run the world. But it will remain the planet’s major power; no new empire or dominant nation will replace it. The world will temporarily become polycentric, with a dozen or so regional powers managing its affairs.
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