Geopolitical strategist and author Peter Zeihan argues that, in the coming decades, America will prosper – more by luck than by design – while other nations will face decline.

Zeihan bases his predictions on “accidental” factors of the U.S.’s terrain (rivers and farmland), resources (shale gas and oil), demography (a relatively young, vigorous population), location (oceans that protect against invasion) and economics (cheap capital and vast consumer markets). In contrast, the rest of the world will suffer from aging populations, dwindling resources and, most substantially, the collapse of the international order. This optimistic view of American prosperity runs counter to popular rhetoric of declining American resources and economy.

Formerly the vice president of analysis at Stratfor, a geopolitical consultancy and publishing house, Zeihan launched his own firm, Zeihan on Geopolitics, in 2012. He is a frequent guest on national and international news shows, radio stations and newspapers, including CNN, ABC and Fox News, the New York Times, Forbes, AP, Bloomberg and MarketWatch, among others. He began his career working for the State Department in Australia and later moved to Washington, DC, to join the Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

This event marks the seventh of nine events in the McConnell Center’s “Debating America” lecture series.