The cracks are showing. The US empire is in decay. What will the world look like once it’s no longer able to bully everyone? What do we have to look forward to both inside and outside the imperial core?

Unless there’s some critic event like a civil war, I’m guessing it will be a slow decline of the U.S. I don’t think any country stands to replace it, at least not in the same amount of dominace that the United States had. I think two or three countries, including the U.S., will dominate economic and military power for quite a number of years with a great deal of shuffling between them.

A multi polar world will surely emerge. The empire will crumble slowly and gradually cede power to other forces. I think the reality is the US will still be one of the most powerful countries but in a world where they seriously have to operate in diplomacy and not just imperial shows of force will be a net positive for the world overall. Unless the US does the thing where they decide to violently lash out (as empires do in the past collapses) and nukes the world a few times over. I don’t think this is likely but also it is assuredly not non zero which is insane.

It’s a very optimistic outlook. I hope you’re right. What’s more likely and uncomfortable for countries in the Western hemisphere is that upon shifting to a multipolar or “spheres of influence” model of the world (which was the norm preglobalization), America will continue its imperialistic tendencies to claim some form of dominion over Canada Mexico and South America. The latest foreign policy strategy document from the Trump administration seems to harken to the Monroe Doctrine (which was a warning that colonization of any further territory in the Western hemisphere by European powers would be viewed as a threat to U.S. security). I also don’t see the US competely discarding neoliberalism when it comes to tech / services, where it still dominates. That requires some type of openness to the world otherwise they won’t be able to continue to enforce their IP rights.