You seem to believe that decline is only measured in succession of state/provinces or breaking up.

Decline to me would be just as the word implies.

America is in steep decline financially, politically, and the very freedoms the nation was based on are in jeopardy.

China is suffering heavy decline of popularity of the government, morals, and freedoms. The very nature of the people has and is changed.

Japan shouldn't be on the list. I wasn't there recently but I will guess that their financial, government popularity, and trust is only temporarily damaged. They will bounce back when they clean up the mess left by the tsunami and show their people that they have motivation to ensure that such nuclear disasters won't happen again.

Russia is declined. Period. The days of the Cold War are long gone just like their glory. I doubt Russia will ever be what it was.

Some important things you are not taking into account: Japan is a nation where all of its people are the same race. Also, coming out of WW2 they ALL had a few things in common. The same religious beliefs (or lac of them), the view that they never wanted to go to war again, and that they ALL needed to come together to rebuild their destroyed country. Please keep in mind that the US stayed there after the war and reorganized their business community and helped to rebuild their infrastructure. In light of that you might think to credit the US with much of Japans success.


If you look back to WW2 the US at that time was MOSTLY a black and white nation. Their were so few citizens from Japan here that it was easy to round them up and put them in camps to detain for the duration of the war. Keep in mind while nearly ALL of the were totally innocent- it was a matter of national security and it was easy to determine who the possible threat was coming from (IE RACE). At that time the US was at its strongest because we were a nation with common beliefs and goals.

Today, the US has so many illegals here and other groups who are against us it makes it hard to be totally united. Our infrastructure is still the best (just look at all our bridges to nowhere). Our problem is the far left trying to make everything politically correct and thinking the government is needed in every faucet of our life.

Trust me, if the US ever gets into another real war we will win it. All of our current problems (debt included) can be easily fixed. All we need to do is drill and refine all our own oil (and we can- we do have it), deal with immigration, loosen gov regulation to make things move faster, the fed needs to RAISE interest rates not keep them at 0 (this will force banks to lend and stop borrowing for 0% and then just buying gov debt for 2-3%). If we do these things we would surge and wipe out our national dept uber fast. And Yes, we need to understand that all the money, gifts, and hand holding we give will never make the muslims like us. They will still want to kill everyone who is not muslims. The best thing we can do is leave them alone and they will be more than happy killing each other.

Deerhunter - Given the current situation, I think it's more appropriate to say "All of our current problems (debt included) can easily be DELAYED. The problem isn't oil, or debt, or even interest rates - it's the fact that we now rely on more imports than we are able to match with exports, and have lost the infrastructure to produce on our own.

I really only want to comment on the US. You recall that the US tried to break up once already and was brought back together at gun point, but there are a few things that you don't say. First and foremost, the seceding states broke away on their own and without the consent of the other states or the federal government. Second, many northerners at the time were perfectly content to let the south secede...until South Carolina attacked Fort Sumter. Under the method I detailed (a Constitutional Convention), the states would decide to have a convention (2/3rds ask for a convention), they could then propose an Amendment to break the United States up, then 3/4ths of the states ratify the amendment, then the US breaks up. The states could decide to do this, and I think it is more possible now than it has been any time recently.

The civil war was caused by the illegal attempt to break the US up, a convention to amendment process would be perfectly legal.

[quote poster=QiXiongMao; 11759; 206459]You seem to believe that decline is only measured in succession of state/provinces or breaking up.

Decline to me would be just as the word implies.[/QUOTE]Yes, the world decline immplies itself. However, martian's post did not mention decline, and the thread is about "country population size and stability". I was speaking to the stability of the national identities beyond attachment to specific economic policies or government structures.

Why shouldn't Japan be on a list of the 10 most populous countries in the world?

Deerhunter - if the US ever again gets into a real war, it will be nuked. No one wins with nuclear armageddon. The US's largest problem is a population unwilling to face the reality of what is necessary to fix their society: more taxes and less entitlements.

Angel - if you can convince the majority of people in 38 states that the USA is a bad idea, then yes, it's a possibility. The 27th amendment to the US Constitution took 74k days to be ratified. While I'm not suggesting that's typical, it is a drawn out process. It is within the realm of possibilities, but it has two chances of success: fat and slim. There are many federal properties (Fort Knox, Pentagon, Area 51) that would be hard to distribute between states peacefully.