The Best Countries in The World to be If The US Were to Collapse

Well, assuming whatever catastrophe caused the complete collapse of the federal government with all its continuity of government plans and contingencies, as well as the state governments – which is pretty much as near to impossible as can be without some sort of extinction level event – you’d want to seek a highly developed and free country which is capable of defending itself against any realistic external threat without American assistance (which is actually a surprisingly short list) and the strategic overwatch that has secured oceangoing trade and kept the peace over most of the world since the end of WWII. This means you’d want to seek refuge and permanent residence in an advanced nuclear state with a powerful military that can operate fully independently of the US-led alliance. That means you’d want a country with a strong navy. That narrows it down to just a couple options, but let’s continue.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wJYcCFDX4JE?feature=oembed

You’d also want a place which has demonstrated it can survive and thrive over the long haul despite enduring some of the worst conflagrations humanity has ever seen, since a world without American power is bound to get very chaotic very fast. Given the history of the United States, you’d probably want a place which has a strong tradition as a political project rather than an ethno-state, and which has a history of permissive immigration policy since you’d be a refugee. A relatively low crime rate and well developed system of law and order, as well as good intelligence services would be a must in the post-American world. And given that the collapse of the USA would have devastating consequences for the more trade dependent countries, a relatively independent, relatively full-set economy with less dependence on far-flung trade is very much preferable to one with with a high degree of dependence on the global economy. Being a net food exporter with a robust agricultural sector is also a big green check mark.

Things that fall into the “nice, but not required” category is stuff like a strong and developed culture, good education system, highly advanced healthcare system, and pleasant climate. Most Americans would much prefer an English speaking country, but you’d be surprised how quickly you can pick up similar European languages when you’re fully immersed in the culture.

And that friends narrows the list down to one and only one country which checks all of these boxes in the event that the United States collapsed internally but the rest of the world wasn’t immediately radically changed:

Vive la France

Culturally, Americans would be most at home in Canada, but if the USA falls, Canada won’t be far behind. The loss of 80% of your foreign trade would be an economically fatal blow to most countries, but especially a largely resource based economy that’s deeply, inextricably integrated with the American economy.

Britain would also be a good logical choice – strong cultural similarities, shared history, powerful navy, nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to deter any potential attacker – but the big worry for Britain in the event of breakdown of the global economy and trading system which would inevitably and immediately follow the collapse of the USA would be food supply, which has long been a critical vulnerability for an otherwise extremely secure island. Britain is dependent upon world trade to a much and qualitatively greater extent than France is, especially since shutting down large parts of its manufacturing industry in the 1980’s.

Australia is, like Britain, very similar to the USA culturally and politically, and its remote location and blue water navy provides a high degree of physical security even without nuclear capabilities. However, the Australian economy is very dependent on resource extraction and foreign trade and its manufacturing sector is not close to full set.

New Zealand has the same shortcomings as Australia, but to an even greater extent in most cases. Maybe it would be okay if you’re one of these “get back to nature on a carbon-neutral organic vegan farming co-op” types, but not really my style. And without secure trade to access foreign markets for its agricultural exports, the standard of living would drop rapidly and drastically.

Nope, France would be the best option. Big cities, small towns, outstanding food quality and food security. Strong legal system and tradition, strong law enforcement and internal security, top-notch foreign and internal intelligence services. And while past republican constitutional regimes have been weak and unstable at times, that hasn’t really been the case for the Fifth Republic – at least not by French standards.

It’s impossible to overstate how important a strong and independently capable military would be in a world without the American presence, especially naval power. Excluding that of the now-collapsed USA, the French Marine National is one the world’s top 3 most powerful and capable navies, operating the full spectrum of naval platforms from strategic missile submarines to multirole naval aviation, and it is the only country other than the USA to ever build and operate a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. The Armée de l’Air is a powerful and technologically advanced airforce which also ranks in the global top 5. France also has expeditionary military capabilities, a strong and fully independent defence industry capable of manufacturing all types of modern military weapons and equipment, from small arms to nuclear warheads and missiles.

And while I don’t want to get into a debate about the merits and excesses of European colonialism here, that large parts of the French colonial empire never really became independent of France – not really – and continue to provide geographically proximate and relatively secure supplies of energy and raw materials not found in Metropolitan France would be a massive benefit in the event of the collapse of USA which would be accompanied by the collapse of the world order that the USA created and has guaranteed for the past 70 years.

In terms of economics, while France was a rather lackluster performer among advanced economies during the highly globalised world that emerged beginning in the 1990’s, the protectionism and heavy regulation that characterizes the French economic and industrial model – which, it’s widely believed, held the economy back in an increasingly globalised world economy – means that France retains a reasonably full set manufacturing capacity, which would be a hugely beneficial in the context of the breakdown of world trade which would certainly immediately follow the collapse of the U.S. superpower. France also has a comprehensive and high quality education system, a world-class culture, a strong national identity, and a galactic level of self-regard.

While some Americans like to poke fun at the French, the fact is that France is a wildly successful civilisation that’s been around for 1500 years despite being the epicenter of so much of the conflict which has characterized European history. If any free, developed country could survive and prosper in a chaotic, post-American, post-globalised world, my money is on France.