Crystal Globe: The Haves and Have-Nots of the New World Order

The authors are audacious and specific in this crystal-ball-gazing exercise concerning the world's future. Cetron, coauthor of Educational Renaissance , and Davies, a former Omni editor, predict that by the year 2000 Canada will dissolve, Quebec will be a nation and the other Canadian provinces will become U.S. states. In their forecast, a North American economic pact embracing Mexico will rescue the U.S. from its growing inability to compete globally. Among their other predictions: South Africa's white government will reach a workable political compromise with the black majority before 1994; China, turned capitalist, will gain much of the leadership lost by Japan; an international aid program will support Middle East reconstruction; life will remain stark and brief in much of the Third World. Cetron and Davies have produced a challenging survey that's worth reading even if some of its prognoses seem fanciful. (Oct.)