What would happen if the United States collapsed?

[Unified Heartless States]

I think your overestimating Russia here. Anything that hurts China will likely strain relations with Russia as these two nation would have already attacked each other if not for the greater threat (America). That and Russia would probably also fall apart.

[Alsheb]

Third world countries would breathe a sigh of relief before being rolled over by Chinese tanks.

Genuinely this. If the US ceased to exist, China would go full throttle for world domination. They'd want Chinese control of business, resources, society and people. Thing is about the US, it doesn't always play for or respect nations and their peoples but China would be so much worse, they wouldn't even pretend like they respected those things.

As for the US proper if it collapsed. Well, there'd be a lot of chaos but ultimately, it would eventually settle and re-form, I think.

Orientalist nonsense. There is literally no reason to assume this except for some obscure deep-rooted fear of the inhumane Asiatic hordes trampling over the world. Compare that irrational fear to the actually existing and very tangible crimes committed by US hegemony every single day, and it's easy to see the greater evil here.

[Ararat Mountain]

*Build up to deafening loud Hans Zimmer orchestral music while flying over a crumbling New York City* The world would collapse with it *Deafening loud hans Zimmer orchestral music with a sudden drum hit and silence*

[The Romulan Republic]

Complete global political and economic chaos.

Probably a depression.

Other nations rush to a) sort out what the hell happened and b) try to take our place as top dog (though that last is basically a fight between Russia and China at the moment).

Conflicts erupt in various places without the deterrent of the US military.

A very different world order exists when the dust settles.

[Rosov]

if the US collapsed upon itself there would be a huge hole that the oceans would fill, and be drained. the oceans would dry up all the fishies would be in america, and the orca would be king of the pond. europerans and asians would walk accross the former bottom of the oceans to go fishing

This is the best answer.

[Lies and Ignorance]

What about NSG? What do we think would happen if the United States collapsed today?

A decades long nuclear missile crisis would commence, as suddenly the world's largest stockpile of nukes would be contested by whatever warring factions arise. The sudden vacuum left by the demise of the Washington DC superstructure would precipitate a civil war the likes of which we can't really imagine, having the knock-off effect of creating a world war because of the sudden leaderlessness of US bases worldwide. An economic collapse would occur in the Eurozone and in Arab oil despotisms like Saudi Arabia. The oil market would go fuck off insane, Europe would shit itself and race to make strength alliances, and millions of people would die.

[Frank Zipper]

Tell me more about the ice weasels.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

if the US collapsed upon itself there would be a huge hole that the oceans would fill, and be drained. the oceans would dry up all the fishies would be in america, and the orca would be king of the pond. europerans and asians would walk accross the former bottom of the oceans to go fishing

Okay, this made me laugh more than it should

[New haven america]

Poland will turn into the sole world superpower.

[Socialist Tera]

It will be good but we will suffer without US economic impact short term.

[New haven america]

It will be good but we will suffer without US economic impact short term.

False, that will be a long term depression, 5-10 years at least.

[Grand Karelia]

Nothing good, I wager.

Especially because the Europeans, specifically NATO would be left to fend for themselves without the US. We know how that went the last time.

[The Jaclean Empire]

Why exactly would Russian influence increase? Most Americans hate Russia...

[Dinake]

Large states with robust economies, such as New York, California, and Texas, would be fine. Small states with crappy economies that border them- like Oklahoma and Nevada- would seek union with them.
Then, there'd be the regional unions. The pacific northwest, New England, and the South and Midwest would be my guess. New York and New England seem like they would merge. The intermountain west would probably be divided thusly: Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming join the midwest, New Mexico and Colorado become independent. Utah and Arizona would probably also be independent.
I'd expect that Indiana would join the south. Pensylvania, Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland might join New York.

Edit: for the sake of argument, I assume that the following collapse scenario occurs: A wayward 747 hits the capital building during the state of the union. The member of cabinet absent during it dies of a heart attack from the shock, as does every flag rank officer in the military. The pilot is a member of a right wing militia group, so there's no need for foreign interventions.

[The Jaclean Empire]

Canada could take this opportunity, invade the USA, and build a new global empire. There would be a new era of Canadian global domination.

[Freefall11111]

Collapsed how? That's the question.

Regardless, there's no scenario in which what could be described as a collapse can end well for the world. The global economy would suffer the worst depression in history by miles. The entire balance of power would be disrupted severely.

[PaNTuXIa]

I could certainly see a Russian invasion, and/or a fascist, militant state emerging, probably from one of the richer states.

[PaNTuXIa]

Canada could take this opportunity, invade the USA, and build a new global empire. There would be a new era of Canadian global domination.

That would be paradise.

[Islamic Republic of Aceh]

I think I would see a world full of chaos. Not just in the former U.S., but also worldwide. The world's economy might collapse. Japan, the E.U., China, Russia, and other world leading powers might suffer economic crisis for a short to medium term. Countries that depend on the U.S.'s assistance might crumble, like Afghanistan and maybe, the Arab states. And also, some conflicts will rise among Russia, the E.U., and China for spheres of influences.

[Appalatchia]

I could imagine New York City trying to split off from New York. Hell, there's New Yorkers that want to do that right now with the country perfectly stable. Which wouldn't leave the rest of the state in a very good position.

Texas would probably do very well. They have a large and healthy economy, the largest and best equipped national guard, and (possibly unexpected for a state with its conservative reputation) a strong well-oiled administrative bureaucracy. In general, states that follow strong-executive models, where people recognize their governor as a symbol of real authority, will have a better shot at maintaining order. Any landlocked state that doesn't find a pact to join would end up having problems.

Alaska is used to isolation from the continental US. Hell, the average Alaskan's life may not end up being fundamentally different.

Countries collapse all the time, and can collapse without warning. This may even happen to the United States someday. But, if the United States collapsed today, what would be the immediate impact of it?

It's worth noting that countries do not collapse "without warning," and certainly not first-world superpowers with powerful economies. The events that we'd consider a state failing are both predictable and unlikely to occur to the US (the death of a dictator, a successful foreign invasion, guerilla rebellion...).

The United States is not a dictatorship where power is centralized in one person. Bureaucracy runs in every vein. To leave the US leaderless, you'd have to simultaneous kill the President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and every cabinet officer. And even if you did that there's still probably thousands of pages worth of contingency plans for the armed forces to follow. Really the only somewhat probable scenario that would collapse the US currently is full-out nuclear war. Which would involve an entirely different sort of guessing game.

[Dinake]

I could imagine New York City trying to split off from New York. Hell, there's New Yorkers that want to do that right now with the country perfectly stable. Which wouldn't leave the rest of the state in a very good position.

Texas would probably do very well. They have a large and healthy economy, the largest and best equipped national guard, and (possibly unexpected for a state with its conservative reputation) a strong well-oiled administrative bureaucracy. In general, states that follow strong-executive models, where people recognize their governor as a symbol of real authority, will have a better shot at maintaining order. Any landlocked state that doesn't find a pact to join would end up having problems.

Actually Texas has the least powerful executive of any state in the country.

[Indian Empire]

Canada could take this opportunity, invade the USA, and build a new global empire. There would be a new era of Canadian global domination.

Partially agreeable. Canada probably wouldn't invade it's new Southern Neighbors, but Millions of Americans and numerous American Corporations would flood Canadian Border Checkpoints. Canada would probably end up transforming into America's Replacement.

[Socialist Tera]

It will be good but we will suffer without US economic impact short term.

False, that will be a long term depression, 5-10 years at least.

Won't be more than 10. Money is tied to resources and people can still trade without American resources.

[Arcturus Novus]

Well, Kentucky would then be governed by the unholy trinity of Paul, McConnell, and Bevin, so I would just pray for death.

[The East Marches]

Chaos would rule the day. The streets would be filled with the dead and dying, scavenging would become the standard operating procedure of most, save for those who chose to engage in Might Makes Right negotiations. Gangs, groups, clans, whatever one chooses to describe them as, would divvy up territory amongst themselves, terrorizing those who either choose to stay, or could not get away from the area.

The tatters of higher society would become the trophies of the violent underclass. And given our access to weaponry and whatever technology remained, and could be scavenged (not to mention, by whom, which would spawn clan wars in and of itself, often funded or pushed for by outside interests), few would dare come in and try to overtake the lawless territory.

The United States would break down into free territories, independent states, clan holdings, perhaps even small 'kingdoms' depending on the ego of the top dog controlling them. The drug trade would flourish, and especially the coastal regions, or places where bases were maintained for their air strips, would be rife with the corruption and money that comes with that sort of thing. Slavery would become the norm in some areas, regardless of color. And independent factions, survivalists, and assorted frontier-minded individuals would exist on the fringes, attempting to stay clear of the more populated, lawless regions, and violent survivors.

Farmlands would be in high demand, with hundreds of workers or slaves dedicated to keeping food growing, all the better to profit the taskmasters. Those with the power to take and to hold will prevail, primarily, with cooperatives and communes being rare, and depending mainly on good positions and easily-defended locales.

Trade would be difficult, but possible, and smuggling would undoubtedly net the most profits, given the various territories and holdings one would have to cross - sometimes in the midst of a power struggle, or changing hands. The things most valued of course, would be food, water, medical supplies, clothing, and weapons, with the rest shifting according to what was more available in any given region.

The air would be harsh, given the smoke-filled skies in many areas, and the constant burning and looting that would go on for some time. With no infrastructure support, roads would degrade, power would be unstable, clean water would be near impossible to get in some places, and natural disasters truly would be disastrous, with no central point of aid - and sometimes, with no aid available at all, if not an outright effort by some to take advantage of it.

Winters that have historically been difficult to weather would become a thing of nightmares in certain sectors. The burning of trash, of former seats of authority and power from office buildings and courtrooms, the tearing down of trees in places that were once parks, simply to survive the cold, the huddling in corners and underground tunnels in the bigger cities - those not innundated by overloaded sewers or flooded systems - all would become the norm.

At night, the ice weasels would come.










>_>

Wow... thanks for an accurately bleak picture of the future. I agree with this scenario. Thats the most likely outcome.