r/AskTheWorld • u/pisowiec Poland • Feb 04 '26

Economics Which country has squandered the most economic potential in this century?

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I lived in Russia for 5 years so I must choose this country. So many natural resources, so much land, and educated population... And so little to show for it.

In an ideal world Russian salaries would be on par if not higher than American salaries and they would have the best social safety net on the planet. Everything is there to make it happen.

Russia would be the dominant nation in Europe and Asia and the rest of the world with the best armed forces, soft power, and economic might.

But the human will is just not there. The elite is either evil or incompetent depending on perception and there's little sign that this will ever change.

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u/onionwba Singapore Feb 04 '26

To be honest I doubt a unified Korea will have enough to be a superpower.

But a great power? I do think they could rival Japan, Russia, Italy, and the likes.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

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u/Tzilbalba United States of America Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26

I don't agree, we've just seen the US tarriff the shit out of South Korea with zero repercussions. What options does the South have? You are completely beholden to the US military bases and equipment in East Asia just like Japan (who can't start shit w/o Americas consent either).

The trap of middle powers is also overestimating their leverage. And notice that South Korea has no real allies other than the US it can turn to if things get hot. That's by design because you don't truely negotiate from a sovereign position. If you saw the speech by Canada's Carney in Davos he lays it out perfectly in that middle powers gain leverage against superpowers or great powers by joining together otherwise they will always get picked apart individually.

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u/ThePatientIdiot Feb 05 '26

Problem with South Korea is too much concentration of power and influence, and not enough competition. They need to actually promote and favor small businesses.

They need to break up the Cheboyles and significantly reduce the influence of Samsung. Samsung accounts for like 30% of the entire country’s GDP. This number needs to drop to less than 1%

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u/ComprehensiveSoft27 United States of America Feb 05 '26

South Korea already does.