Those who want to predict what the world’s future will be are engaged in a debate on the future of US power. The recent NIC 2025 report has predicted a decline of the US as a superpower and the enpowerment of countries such as China and India. In 2009 Johan Galtung has predicted the fall of the US empire by 2020.
These anticipations parallel a scholarly debate in the field of IR. Authors such as Brooks and Wohlforth, on the contrary, argue that there are no reasons to anticipate a decline of the US and that none of the IR models they have used would lead to such conclusion. Scholars, such as Josephy Nye, have stressed the role of ‘soft power‘ when anticipating the future of US power. Nye argues against visions of the decline of the US.
A growing attention is being put on the role of technology in the future of warfare and its role on the definition of military power.
Futures markets very frequently include bets related to one or more aspects of this question.