"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

This report is based on a series of 10 hearings held by the Congress. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack there was worldwide sympathy and support for the U.S. Since then, polls have revealed a precipitous decline in favorability toward the U.S. and its foreign policy. As the very first witness told the Subcommittee, ¿We have never seen numbers this low.¿ The reversal is unprecedented and widespread. Americans are grasping for the answer, and competing schools of thought have emerged. Contents of this report: (1) What Do They Think, and Why? Eight Findings from Polling Data on International Opinion about the U.S. and Its Foreign Policy; (2) Conclusion: America¿s Monolithic Image; (3) Comments. Charts and tables.

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