Liberty University

The Next 100 Years
A Forecast for the 21st Century

Elizabeth Klimkowski
9/27/12

The United States is the most powerful country in the world. In “The Next 100 Years” by George Friedman, the author’s main thesis was that the most powerful forces a country can have is geography and demographics, and to use those forces to undermine political policies of other countries. He also spoke about the five main goals of the American hegemon. These are very important when discussing the future of America’s power and the globe. Friedman’s thesis is very important to keep in mind when thinking about America’s future. He writes about how America is very geographically sound. It is surrounded by water on almost all sides and the Unites States has the naval power to maintain protection on its sea side borders. The only thing America might be concerned about is the Mexican border. When writing about the Mexican border, Freidman talks about the borderland which is the space where the lines of the country have been interchanged multiple times (83-84). In most cases people have strong ties to their mother country when living in another country and the migration is both ways (84). With this borderland this is not the case. Mexicans coming to America think of where they are living as occupied territory and there is no equal migration from America to Mexico (84). This aspect of his thesis is true. Unless there are tremendous changes Americans will never want to move to Mexico and the United States will probably always be able to protect its borders. The second part of Friedman’s thesis is the demographics of a country. America’s population growth has slowed tremendously. This is not a good thing or a bad thing. Before the 21st century it was financially and socially beneficial to have a lot of children (55). They could work, bring in income, take care of