This analysis explores how global power is changing in the 21st century by looking at two quiet but important shifts: the rise of new research centers and the growing struggle over critical minerals. It explains why modern power depends less on control and more on long-term systems such as universities, supply chains, and international cooperation. Using the idea of imperial overstretch, the text shows how great powers can weaken not through sudden collapse, but by spreading themselves too thin and neglecting the foundations that sustain influence over time.

Bibliography 

• Arsenault, Mark. “Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip.” The New York Times, January 15, 2026.
• Vandome, Christopher. “If Trump Wants 2026 to Be a Year of Critical Minerals Collaboration, He Must Stop Imperialist Rhetoric on Greenland.” Chatham House, January 16, 2026.
• Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000. New York: Random House, 1987.