Analysis Of The Post-American World By Fareed Zakaria

In the book, The Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria examines the potential change in superpowers known as the post-American world. Zakaria expresses his belief that American dominance of the world has come to an end due to “the rise of the rest” (Zakaria 2), meaning the increase in power of the BRIC countries, specifically China and India. Although Zakaria makes a compelling argument as to why he believes that we are moving away from a hegemonic system into a multi-polar world; however, this is not a reality. The post-American century has not arrived and The United States will continue to be the only superpower this Earth will see for many years to come.

In order to support his opinion, Zakaria assesses China’s ability to become a superpower

Despite the fact that Zakaria is arguing for the post-American world, he states “China will not replace the United States as the world’s superpower. It is unlikely to surpass it on any dimension—military, political, or economic—for decades, let alone have dominance in all areas” (Zakaria 93). Although he says this, he is still able to make a compelling argument; nonetheless, the problems that plague the nation will prevent it from fully asserting itself on the global scale. The dramatic increase of globalization in China has caused problems with its natural resources and the environment. These problems are not to be taken lightly as they do considerable damage to China’s largest industry, its people. It has been uncovered that “26 percent of China’s largest river system is so polluted that they have ‘lost the capacity for basic ecological function’…Beijing is already the world’s capital according to one measure—air pollution…[and] of China’s 560 million urban residents, only 1 percent breathe air considered safe” (Zakaria 98). These finding’s make one ask the question of how can China be responsible for helping other nations with their environmental problems if they are

Politically, India’s government is struggling to meet the needs of the enormous population. Many citizens “have only miserable interactions with their government. They find it inefficient or corrupt, and often both” (Zakaria 145). To deal with this issue, society has taken on the movement toward development in order to push for a better more competent state. Despite society’s want for development and power, “its state—its ruling class—is hesitant, cautious, and suspicious of the changing realities around it” (Zakaria 146). One of the main things that impedes India from being a major global player is the nations lack of development; “India ranks 128 out of 177 countries” in the Human Development Index and has a female literacy rate of 48 percent (Zakaria 141), more than 300 million people live on less than a dollar a day and contributes to over 40 percent of the worlds poor (Zakaria 133). The lack of human development is not the only factor that is restricting India. The fact that the country does not have a major global city with new infrastructure and controlled urbanization creates a perception “to many visitors…[that] India does not look pretty” (Zakaria 133). Without the development of India as a whole, the country will never be able to be a serious player on the global scale, especially not considered a