World economy and global flow of information, ideas, goods, services and people continues unabated, with democracy and free market ideology remaining as almost the sole dominant form of governance. Importance of nation states diminished (but they retained their relevance) as powerful supranational entities take their place in ensuring a global playing field. Conflicts become more nuanced and power struggles less volatile but more widespread, as counties jostle for competitive advantage over their rivals in an attempt to attract investment and talent. Major developing countries are quickly catching up to the Western world, but there still remain countries cut off from new globalizing trends and flow of investments, chiefly in Africa. The world economy is 80 percent larger in 2028 than it was in 2000 and average per capita income is roughly 50 percent higher, but benefits of globalization are not yet global. Large parts of the world enjoy unprecedented prosperity, and a numerically large middle class is created for the first time in some formerly poor countries, but poverty remains the fact of this world too.

Rising Asia will continue to reshape globalization, giving it less of a “Made in the USA” character and more of an Asian look and feel (i.e. more collectivist and rule-based than the individualistic economies of the West). By having the fastest-growing consumer markets, more firms becoming world-class multinationals, and more favorable demographics, Asia looks set to displace Western countries as the focus for international economic dynamism.
Increased labor force participation in the global economy, especially by China, India, and Indonesia, had enormous effects, spurring massive internal and regional migrations. An expanded Asian-centric cultural identity may be the most profound effect of a rising Asia. Chinese universities are attracting more foreign students than Western universities, and Bollywood movies have a much larger audience than Hollywood, signifying the end of Western cultural exporting and giving rise to many specifically Asian art-forms.

Source: Excerpts from from "Globalization 2020" by National Intelligence Council

Increased inequality produced by globalization, as well as increasing realization of the fragility of the global system (two large financial crises, bio-terrorist attack and religious clashes in Europe) give rise to protectionist measures in some countries. Such measures provoke similar retaliations from other countries, and, through an escalating crises country borders are again enacted, national currencies readopted and tariffs reimposed. Collapse of the EU and ASEAN trading blocks, as well as WTO trading rules ushers us into the new era of the nation state. Multinational corporations are effectively broken down and lose much of their power. Patriotism is on the rise, and multiculturalism becomes less attractive. There is significant amount of voluntary and involuntary repatriation and a crackdown on illegal immigration (yet, highly-skilled work is still prized, perhaps more then ever).

Lack of gains from trade and collapse of many value chains, along with increased expenditure on defense lead to a severe economic depression in most parts of the world. Politicians predictably try to blame others for such circumstances, fueling regional tensions which erupt in skirmishes and border tensions and occasional wars. This further reduces emigration, as those who would like to leave are now often at risk of being labeled traitors of their country for taking their talents elsewhere at the time when their homeland needed them the most.

Many countries step outside the global patent system due to the need to reestablish value chains within their national borders. With all countries preferring home produced goods, only the most essential items are imported, and, even then, it is never certain that the originating country will give the permission to export for fear of revealing their technology through reverse engineering. As a result, R&D again becomes a secretive activity, and knowledge becomes a national product. Much of R&D is once again in the hands of the powerful military industry complex, and becomes intimately tied with the future of its respective nation state. Lack of multinational cooperation and workplace diversity stifles the economy of all but the largest countries, and many value chains are beyond repair. Some smaller regional alliances are reestablished in an effort to put the economy back on its feet (for example, the Nordic alliance), but these are few and far between.

With strong unemployment in many countries, workers are in no position to demand favorable conditions. Most labor unions cease to exist, and workers are generally happy to take any work they find. Forced retirement becomes the norm. Flexible working remains frequently used as governments, in an attempt to decrease unemployment initiate forced job sharing in many roles. Distance working is still quite frequent in larger countries, especially as some experts are spread quite thin. A few "neutral" countries profit immensely through this resurging nationalist tide, as they are able to facilitate interactions and cooperation that is still necessary. Many educational institutions are undergoing profound changes to re-educate a workforce for the national economy and address structural inefficiencies left over from specialized economies built for export.

Disillusioned with economic progress and taken up by the task of rebuilding their cultural identities, people around the world focus on the arts and humanities. It is a particular feature of this era that new national identities borrow a lot from previous multiculturalism, and many nations are created, refreshed, enriched through past intense interactions with other cultures, as well as residual immigrant communities. New books, plays, musical pieces, paintings, architecture and events create a flurry of activity especially welcome in a newly escapist culture seeking distraction from the state of the economy and realizing more and more that life should be enjoyed in the moment. While differences between countries increases, they all follow the same pattern of increasing aesthetic appreciation, which also translates into greater concern for nature, and for the welfare of their compatriots. New seed of trust are built through non-government organisations seeking to help smaller and more isolated countries which have had a much harder time adopting to the new realities of the world.