The largest empires and nations in history, as well as the ones that lasted the longest, had a few things in common. The three key elements are: a common language, a common, currency, and religious toleration. A common language and currency fosters trade and cultural exchange, which tends to bring about religious tolerance.
Some states and empires have succeeded for a time in establishing a common religion, but religious toleration has been more typical. Both the Roman and Mongol empires had religious toleration. The same is true of the Russian, British, and French empires. Napoleon toyed with the idea of making Islam the official religion of his empire.
Generally, whichever country has the strongest economy will do the most international trade, and so its currency will to some degree or another become the global currency. Economic strength is in part derived from both the amount of territory controlled and a country's population. If Bangladesh or Nigeria controlled a territory as large as China, they would be global powers. In a similar way, If Australia or Canada had populations the size of India, they too would be global powers.
By global power, I mean one of the top five or 10 most influential countries in the world. In order to move from global power to hegemon, more is needed. The US became a world power through uniting a large area and population under the same language, and to a lesser extent, a common religion, though religious toleration was codified by law in the US Constitution.
What about Brazil? Why is it not a global power? Although it has a large territory and population, its language, Portuguese, is not as widely spoken as English, nor is Portuguese a global language with respect to science or business like English is. Brazil also has a relatively small economy with respect to its population.
While Arabic is the common language of 20 or so countries and binds the over 50 Muslim majority countries, those countries do not form a cohesive bloc like the European Union. The overall output of the Islamic world is small compared to its size and population. Furthermore, it is heavily dependent on oil and natural gas rather than being diversified with manufacturing.
Only a few countries in the world now have a chance at becoming the hegemon, that is, the country that can get what it wants in nearly any dispute. The US is the country in the best position to do that. Many falsely believe the US has been the sole superpower since 1991, but a mere glance at world news shows this is not the case.
If the goal is global supremacy, here is the recipe:
1) Strengthen the US economy and trade more with other countries. This will strengthen the US dollar and thus make it attractive for others to use it. The best way to strengthen the US economy would be to cut spending, taxes, and regulations. It is also essential to build more oil refineries and nuclear power plants. In brief, cheap oil = world peace.
2) The promotion of trade will promote the English language as a side-effect. For the cost of one nuclear submarine, thousands of foreigners could be educated annually in English on US soil. An exchange program like this would be a sort of reverse Peace Corps. The Friendship of Peoples University in Russia is a perfect example of this and is one of the best moves the Soviets ever made.
3) The US has been pretty good at promoting religious toleration. The largest Hindu temple outside of Asia recently opened in New Jersey. It contains carvings of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King alongside Hindu luminaries.
Here are some of the things the US should NOT be doing if the goal is retain and expand its power:
1) ignoring illegal immigration
2) subsidizing electric vehicles, wind power, and solar energy
3) weakening the dollar through deficit spending and increasing the money supply
4) getting involved in foreign wars and alliances
5) continuing policies that foster below-replacement fertility
6) weakening English language education standards
7) maintaining a large overseas military presence
8) propping up Social Security, the greatest Ponzi scheme in history
I could go on, but those are the main issues.
On a side note, territorial conquest is only useful if the territory conquered can be held permanently and is contiguous with the existing territory. The US, UK, Russia and others have territorial enclaves, yet these do nothing but pose risks. The US base in Guantanamo, Cuba has done nothing but strain relations, and Britain was dragged into a war with Argentina to keep the Falklands. Germany and Italy ended up losing their African colonies after just a few decades, and France did hardly any better in Indochina.
It's interesting that the Spanish, French, British, Russian, Mongol, Chinese (Qing), and Ottoman empires all lost most of their territory about 30 years after reaching their peaks. The Roman Empire was the only one that outlasted its peak by more than a century.
True world domination does not come through imperialism, and that is the lesson so many have failed to learn.
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