A New American Century?

Henry Luce is credited with observing that the Twentieth Century was to be the “American Century.” Powered by an enormous and growing economy, America’s dominance became absolute as the world tore itself apart in World War Two. For sixty years from 1945 to the beginning of the Twenty-first Century this US economic dominance gradually diminished relative to the rest of the world as first Europe’s and then Asia’s economies rebuilt themselves (in most cases with US help, along with adherence to the principles of free and fair trade).

All this is right and normal, but we are now at a time when nearly five generations have passed since we entered the “American Century”, what sort of century lies before us and what will the US role be?

Clearly the US will continue to be a major player economically. More ideas are patented here and more new business start-ups happen here than in any other nation on earth—and that is not likely to change anytime soon. But there is one other area of difference that I believe will be key to the Twenty-first Century being a new American century: this lies in US dominance in the field of values as espoused by the plethora of NGOs and nonprofit organizations that have sprung out of US initiatives.

Military might backed by economic power is no longer enough to impose policy on the planet’s nearly seven billion people. We cannot even achieve this in Afghanistan. Rather, the future belongs to those who seek to empower the lowliest individual through the four freedoms: the freedom from want and hunger; the freedom from ignorance and prejudice; the freedom of speech, and the freedom of faith. Governments and for-profit companies have roles to play in this certainly; but don’t these four freedoms sound a lot like the mission statements and visions of our nonprofit communities?

I suggest that this largely unheralded sector—the nonprofit sector—could play the defining role in this coming century, IF they look outward and not inward and are savvy enough to navigate the global opportunities and pitfalls that lie before them.