America will remain the worlds dominant superpower

Wonderful! I hate to be a pain but would it be acceptable that we change the debate parameters to be "for the next 40 years at least" as opposed to a Century? My apologies for this mistake! As for the structure you are quite correct, that is what I had in mind. Let"s begin! The definition of "dominant superpower" you suggested I would mostly agree with, but I would like to add that a genuine superpower must be at the top of the economic, scientific, and cultural pyramids (as well as having military, political and economic prowess) in the context of this debate. For the majority of my arguments I will be comparing the USA to China as it is the only country I believe that is anywhere near challenging the USA in its superpower status as of current. 1)US economical size The USA has been considered the world"s strongest economy ever since the end of the Great Depression (the one incurred by the Wall Street Crash), and despite many anti " Americans stating in earnest that in the current economic climate America is not the economic powerhouse it once was, it still has the highest GDP in the world by a significant amount. The USA currently has a GDP of approximately 16 Trillion Dollars (whilst China"s is but 9 Billion) as is growing at a considerable rate, roughly 4% a year. My opponent may wish to point out that China"s economy is growing at a rate faster than this, but allow me to put this into perspective: Assuming the USA grows at 3% until 2030, they will have an economy worth approximately $30 trillion which is a relatively moderate assumption considering how many predictions show that by 2030 US economy will be rising at a much faster rate than this. To match, China"s economy would have to grow at a rate of 12% a year until 2030, and when we account for the fact that a) Its economy is currently growing at about 9-10% and b) no large country has EVER grown at more than 8% over such a long period, this seems extremely unlikely. In other words, the progress made in the US economy from 1945 to 2030 would have to be achieved by China in little less than 2 decades. On this note, if China by some miracle did achieve this feat, its per capita GDP would still be left lagging behind the US"s, merely a quarter of its Western rival. Linked closely to the economy is China"s ability to create consumer brands that are known worldwide. This is an important factor when it comes to looking at global influence I feel, as they become a large part of everyday lives and represent innovation within the countries of their origins. For example, who doesn"t know the names of Coca-Cola and Microsoft? It is this kind of "brand innovation" that China lacks, and I don"t think it will be anytime soon that we see Chinese brands dominating advertisement. This does have an effect on US dominance though, not just pretty logos, as the sponsorship of sports events in developing nations is helpful in gaining favour from them, a favour that is not shared towards China. Advanced American innovation also spreads into the field of corporations, this however is a point I will advance on in the next round. I don"t believe that China can catch up in this time, and if this continues then 40 years from now the US economy will be just as strong as ever, growing and improving with each new year. 2)Science and the Intellectual field A large part of being a superpower I would argue is being at the forefront of scientific discoveries. Since the aeroplane and telephone 100 years ago to google and ebay more recently, the US has been pushing the boundaries of scientific innovation. Being in this position comes with a number of benefits; it helps in a commercial sense and on a more personal scale highlights a countries power and skill. The USA conducted 32% of all research last year, a figure that places it above all other countries in the world (including doubling China). In the world of today, the fast paced, forever moving, constantly advancing world of today, this is hugely important to stay on top of all aspects of power. New research leads to new medicines, new technologies and general lifestyle improvements. The US is a significant way ahead of China in this field and there are a number of reasons for this, the first of which being that the USA has the facilities and the accompanying training that is required. The USA has roughly 17 of the world"s top 20 universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford. These "hubs" of learning are the source of many impactful researches and investigations to take place, and unfortunately China is not going to host such significant establishments in the near future. This from the start puts them at a disadvantage in the knowledge economy. Secondly, they aren"t attracting the young international talent, both through their lack of top universities, and their lack of hospitality to new talent. The US for example receives an approximate education import of $200 billion a years, countries are educating their people and they are moving to the US to study further, a hugely beneficial system for the USA that is both encouraging new innovation and increasing intellectual cross-pollination, which cannot be achieved by China when its only scientists are Chinese born. The final issue concerning China not receiving new talent is a widespread fear of their political system, but this I will tackle as a wider problem for China in a future round. That is all I will cover in this round, I will focus on military prowess and other wider issues (including the other potential powers) in the next few rounds. However, feel free to touch upon these issues if you feel necessary. I eagerly await your response! Sources: http://dailycapitalist.com... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://online.wsj.com... http://www.singularity2050.com... (SIDE NOTE: unfortunately I could not copy across the graphs of data I wished to use, however the majority of useful graphs can be found on my 4th source!)