“The sun never sets on the British empire”, (Brian Doone, 2019) is a famous historian quote that rings true to Britain’s situation before World War I. The rise of global superpowers has influenced the global economy in many ways and this trend started all the way back when the first world war occurred. Imperialism in WW1 was a huge deal, the most powerful countries in the world were invading the smaller countries to get stronger, most notably Britain. Britain’s imperialism was focusing on maintaining and expanding their trade, bringing raw materials and the sale of manufactured goods. Britain was regarded by many that they are the strongest country in WW1 because of its imperial power with its powerful navy which was the most powerful one in the world back then as well as having a lot of colonies. Africa got affected the most because of imperialism. The reason superpowers invaded Africa is because of the incredible resources that they found like diamonds, gold, ivory, rubber, and more. Africa couldn’t stand a chance against their military so instead, they surrendered as well as the invasion has made Africa left behind in technological development in the world later on.
“Do America’s closest allies view it as the clear global superpower? What about the countries that neighbor China – surely, they must witness China’s economic might firsthand”(Research, 2019). Many people have been debating whether China or America is the number one superpower country in the world. According to a source from the research center, there is a survey that shows that people voted for America as the number one global superpower in the world as well as it shows that the United States has the biggest global GDP in the world with 42%. The strength of the source is that it has statistics that could be searched online and the weakness is that the source is not that reliable as it mentions that wherever people live will be based on who is the biggest superpower in the world.
“China wants to dominate in Asia, its backyard. At the regional level, projections of the Middle Kingdom’s economic growth, population size, and defense spending suggest it will have outstripped the U.S.A by 2030.”(Marc Champion, 2018). This source mentions that China one day will overtake America as the number one country in the world because according to the source it says that China has a larger economy than the United States and that it is likely to grow on becoming richer as well. China’s military has also improved, they have spent three times as much as Russia but they lack carrier fleets and some equipment that can cover the corners around the globe and that’s why some people still think the United States is the true superpower.
“Today’s China will never be a superpower”(Charles Parton, 2019), This source is different from the others as it states many reasons why they won’t be the superpower country in the world ahead of the United States. The source states three main problems when it comes to their long-term economic growth, the first one is their debt which the costs of them have to be transported either by companies, government, or people which can inflate the debt away by increasing taxes or cutting public investment. The second thing is the structure of the population which will continue to grow in the future, but the labor force is decreasing and the birth rate of children per woman is one of the lowest in the world the problem is that it could lead to instability in a gender imbalance. The last most important thing is the water crisis which is in 12 northern states which are 41% of China’s population, 46% of its industry, 38% of its agricultural, and 50% of its power. According to the source, climate change will affect these areas and make them drier and the water transfers can’t prevent social, economic, and political dislocation which would result in inflation. The strengths of the source are that it provides facts, and evidence and explains several things on why China won’t become a superpower if they don’t fix these issues however the weakness is that the source is not reliable and some of the things that are being said are biased because according to the source that is China won’t become a superpower is a prediction and who knows who will become a superpower in the future and how things will eventually change
As of today, the United States is the number superpower country in the world because they are flourishing with its military, political and economic strength so that it could convince other countries around the world to do things that they wouldn’t like to do. Many experts have thought of China becoming the next superpower but in some key areas it doesn’t that would be the case instead America will most likely remain to be a strong force as well as keep its title as a ``superpower” for the future going forward. There are facts that prove that the United States is the number one country and one of those many things is economics, 80% of the financial transactions in the world are conducted in dollars as well as 87% of foreign currency on market transactions. Even though China’s economy is growing at a splendid rate, they lack the quality that the United States has over them, “According to the World Bank, GDP per capita in the US was $53,042 in 2013; in China, it was just $6,807” (Lucas Jackson, 2014). What it basically states is that China’s economic growth has managed to find its way to the Chinese consumers, the byproducts of the economy which is driven by its huge state-owned businesses rather than the private industry and that’s why America is doing better economically because they are allowing their citizens to grow along with it.
America’s military is completely unrivaled as they are dominating through the seas, land, air, and space and that’s because they have spent 37% of their total money on their global military which is four times the amount that China has spent on their military. The United States is also exceeding in political power “In 2013, the U.S. doled out $32.7 billion in financial assistance; the second was the UK at $19 billion”( Lucas Jackson, 2014). The money that they have can buy strong political cooperation from countries that are in.
The United States has the oldest national constitution in the world with the rule of law and strong institutions to accompany it. The fourth thing is innovation in the technology sector, nine of the largest tech companies in the world, there are eight of them which are included in the United States as well as being number one in the world for producing oil and natural gas. America's research universities and scientific institutions focus on it’s where it is needed the most, 30% of research and development is spent in the United States.
The last thing is cultural/lifestyle, American citizens have spent millions of dollars on their lifestyle, and from a recent charity survey, they are ranked number 1 in the world for helping strangers. According to the source Americans continue to enjoy their life which is unmatched by the rest of the world and these 5 things it’s why America is still the true superpower in the world today. The strength of the source is that it has a lot of facts and evidence as well as statistics that can be checked and the weakness is that it could be a biased source since it is written by a bunch of people who are from the United States.
The strength of perspective 1 shows a survey in which it shows on many people voted for the countries that are the top global superpowers. There are also a bunch of different perspectives on the source which is something mentioned, it shows statistics of countries that are working with either China or the United States so that we could tell whether some of the people’s opinions are biased or not. The weakness of the source is that it doesn’t have some facts and mostly all of it has a bunch of opinions which could easily be biased depending on which countries they like the most or the country that they are living in. It doesn’t state on why one of the countries of China or the United States is number in the superpower rankings, there has to be evidence to back it up. In perspective 2 the strength is that it shows a lot of facts, statistics, and evidence unlike perspective 1 which was all opinion based, almost all the information is clear and straight to the point as well as the information could be researched online. The weakness is that some of the things that are being said are biased, for example when it mentioned that “Americans continue to enjoy a quality of life unmatched by the rest of the world”, in my point of view I think this something biased because anyone from almost every country which is stable enough can enjoy their own lifestyle and some Americans don’t really have the best life either. The reason this source is biased is that the article is written in the United States itself and also this website is about them so of course there are lots of biases to be expected so the debate could go either way on who is the most dominant country and some of these sources could be unreliable.