Speculations about geopolitics in the late 21st century

Speculations are made about the global power balance in the next century. The time frame is 50–100 years and the driving forces are economic, technological, and natural resource availability. It is believed that three dominant coalitions will emerge: a Western hemisphere maritime grouping led by the US and including the UK; a European grouping dominated by France and Germany; and an East and South Asia grouping led by Japan and including India. The underlying motivation for these alignments is the postulated failure of the World Trade Organization to achieve long-term global free trade. A short-term policy recommendation to upgrade the buying power of Western hemisphere consumer populations is developed from the analysis.