The Global Swing Vote

Despite all evidence, for a lot of Americans, the world — or their sense of it — and the American place in it seems frozen in about 1999. The Soviet Union — vanquished. The American economy — number one, of course. American might and influence — unchallenged. The USA — a master superpower.

Scholar Parag Khanna looks around today and sees something very different. Not just China and the EU are challenging U.S. supremacy, but also a raft of rising second-tier nations — Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, and others — coming on strong. They could be a new global swing vote.

This hour, On Point: the "Second World" challenging the "American Way."Guests:

Parag Khanna, geopolitical scholar and advisor, and author of the new book "The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order."

Tugba Kalafatoglu, in Istanbul, founder of Tugba Kalafatoglu and Associates, a global management and political consulting firm.

Ricardo Lessa, in Sao Paulo, a journalist with GloboNews.