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Anonymous

The only 3 contenders are USA, China and India. In the next 2-3 decades, US will continue to be the superpower, but more like a wounded superpower who is past its glory. China has started to gain massive momentum and will continue to do so but it will start facing resistance from its neighbors and West sooner than later, due to conflicting interests and differences in cultural values.

I feel optimistic about India. One thing that everyone in the world could be guaranteed of regarding India is that India can never have an autocratic government or even a dictatorship or a military coup. The culture of India with its yoga, spirituality, religion, cuisine, movies etc is generally more appealing than lets say Russia or Japan or China to people from countries other than India.

Talking about economics, India's economic interests are linked with its political setup as well cultural background. A focus on innovation and entrepreneurship could be seen in India and the trend is likely to strengthen in the future. Its not too far when India will start having its own Googles and Apples. India will create innovative businesses that will provide value for everyone around the world. China and Russia can't innovate with their businesses due to cultural or political reasons. Their growth is limited to manufacturing.

India's soft power: again culture, yoga, bollywood, spirituality etc If I ask people in Western nations about who would they prefer to see as a superpower among India, China or Russia? I think most people will be more comfortable with India.

India will solve its problems of red-tape bureaucracy, corruption, poor infrastructure, poverty and other socio-cultural issues in the next 2-3 decades. This might seem impossible to the young people in India but if someone could compare today's India with that of 1985 then they will likely feel as optimistic as me. To predict the future we need to understand the past and appreciate where we are in the present..

The challenges to the notion of India becoming a superpower are many and are quite real, and can't be ignored but seeing the country's track record in dealing with its internal problems in the last 20-30 years, the future looks pretty good.

Now, saying all that, I don't think that India would be the "typical" superpower. It would be a cultural superpower and the military might would be enough to act as a deterrent in front of the best in the world and India becoming an economic superpower is inevitable.

Global powers with similar political and cultural values will align together in the future. India would attract more allies than enemies. Can't say the same thing for other contenders in the potential superpowers list.

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