Economic size trumps all else?

The global realignment of states following the resulting power vacuum brought on by the end of the Cold War is finally materializing, as a new triangular formation has taken shape: the 'first world' club of the OECD; the 'second world' of emerging economies; and, a heterogeneous 'third world' of the rest. [...] The core of this paper observes the economic and social trends of countries in the second tier, and their upwards aspirations towards the top-tier of the global architecture. [...] In the coming decades, China and India will disrupt workforces, industries, companies and markets in ways that we can barely begin to imagine…How these Asian giants integrate with the rest of the world will largely shape the 21st century global economy.1 As the Davos programme illustrates, India, long overshadowed by China…is the country of the moment. [...] This has been brought on by a jump in the trend growth rate to 7 to 8 %, double the "Hindu rate of growth"…As the balance of power in the global economy shifts towards Asia, such turbocharged growth rates promise to shorten the time-frame in which India rises up the ranks of the world economic powers.2 China and India, 49th and 50th, respectively, ranked much more closely than in previous years. [...] Moreover, a distinctive post-bipolar triad of distinctive state types is gradually evolving: a 'first world' club of members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); a new 'second world' tier of 'emerging economies'; and an extensive and heterogeneous 'third world' (previously the G77) of the rest.8 In turn, 5 Evan H. Potter, "Canada and the New Public Diplomacy," Discu