Is the West really stagnating? If anything, I'd say it's at the peak and continuing to climb. The bulk of the West's power is united under a single language, on a continent that's practically invincible, and it has constructed a system in which the brightest minds from around the world come to the US to work for Western companies and study in Western universities. Sure, China is catching up quickly, but that's because it is heading down a path that was already first cleared by the West - I'd expect diminishing returns to its strategy.
I think it's really quite different from what you describe. In my eyes, the game is over, the West already won, and the best that other powers can hope for is to join the West in victory - it's a fool's errand to try and supplant it entirely.
20 years ago America and Europe dominated the world - today the US is growing increasingly perilous politically and Europe is little more than a museum, irrelevant by the day.
The collective economies of Canada, Europe and Australia haven’t grown since 2008. 15 years. The US is the only “western” economy which has actually shown real GDP growth.
A staggering number of academics and researchers are now opting to either stay or return home - because home is a better place to live than the West, unlike 20 years ago.
By the year 2040, there is only going to be a single “western” country among the worlds 10 largest economies.
It’s basic math. China is just the start - there are 4-5 new chinas emerging over the next 2-3 decades
What you are saying is respectfully a highly incorrect and somewhat sheltered perspective.
If it's basic math, how come China and India haven't ruled the world forever, since they have the largest populations? There's a lot more to it than what you say.
Um, they did - China was the global superpower for most of human history. Western (read: caucasian) dominance is a relatively recent phenomenon.
And even that dominance is thanks almost entirely to the Islamic golden age that preceded it.
And just like the ignorant muslim empires in 1200 who assumed they would rule the world forever, Westerners haven't realized the rest of the world has caught up to them and the European age is over.
I think it's really quite different from what you describe. In my eyes, the game is over, the West already won, and the best that other powers can hope for is to join the West in victory - it's a fool's errand to try and supplant it entirely.