Khanna and Kotkin

By Lauren Byrum

The Next Hundred Million

• In this novel the author, Joel Kotkin, takes a very optimistic view on the future of The United States.

• Kotkin sees an extremely fast population growth from 300 million to roughly 400 million people within the near future

• While some people would see this as a problem Kotkin believes that the US will have the right resources to be able to handle such a large population of people.

• The large amount of population growth will force people to live within the interior parts of the United States that have previously been less inhabited.

• This will merge rural and urban neighborhoods and communities resulting in the suburban home being the common arrangement

Kotkin (continued)

• The largest growth of people will be within the minority groups such as Asians and Hispanics

• Kotkin believes that we will see a time when racial barriers are much less defined and may even become nonexistent

• By 2050 Kotkin estimates that non Hispanic whites will become the minority within the US and races that are considered minorities now will become the majority

• He believes that due to this fact we will see a much more harmonious relationship between different racial groups than we ever have before.

The Second World by Parag Khanna

• Khanna states that the US, the European Union, and China will become the major global powers of the future

• The future of these three superpowers will depend on the way that they handle the second world

• Through competition for each of these second world countries we will see which global power will come out on top

Khanna (continued)

• Khanna states that each of the three super powers will have certain promises that they will offer to the second world countries that they wish to acquire

• He takes a less optimistic view to the US’ future and believes that our future relies on our ability to compete with the other two super powers

• If we fail to do so effectively it is extremely possible that The United States will see an economic down turn as well as a decline in international influence.