Following on from his book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, the author looks at the different ways in which society prepares itself for the arrival of the 21st century. Digesting and synthesizing developments in population growth, environmental change, biotechnology, robotics, communications technology and global financial markets, this book looks at the possible future for the developed world.

Contents:
Part One: General Trends
1. Prologue: Old challenges and new challenges
2. The demographic explosion
3. The communications and financial revolution and the rise of the multinational corporation
4. World agriculture and the biotechnology revolution
5. Robotics, automation, and a new industrial revolution
6. The dangers to our natural environment
7. The future of the nation-state

Part Two: Regional Impacts
8. Janapese “plan” for a post-2000 world
9. India and China
10. Winners and losers in the developing world
11. The Erstwhile USSR and Its crumbled empire
12. Europe and the future
13. The American dilemma

Part Three: Conclusion
14. Preparing for the twenty-first century

Appendix: Human Development Index