Ranking the Top 15

1. China
2. United States
3. India
4. Russia
5. Brazil
6. Japan
7. Germany
8. Indonesia
9. United Kingdom
10. France
11. Mexico
12. Pakistan
13. Italy
14. Bangladesh
15. Nigeria

The ranking used to determine the Top 15 Nations, the "Real Security Council," relies heavily on population. As stated earlier, democracy means that people count—no matter where they live or what they have. The absurdity of the current world order, as represented by the UN, is that while the General Assembly exists to allow every micro state to act as if it’s another Brazil, the UN Security Council is supposed to assemble important countries to sort out war-and-peace issues. Well, isn't population the best way to measure importance? So eleven of our Top 15 are the eleven largest countries, with the remaining four in national population’s top twenty-three.

Yet the ranking also weighs economic strength, or total GDP. Each of our Top 15 is among the twenty-six largest economies, except for Bangladesh and Nigeria. To me, it would be wrong to leave out the seventh and ninth largest nations because their economies are too small. Placing Bangladesh and Nigeria (279 million people between them and growing fast) in the Top 15 calls attention to the economic well-being of those living in two large but still poor countries.

While the ranking awards points for being a nuclear power or having oil reserves, no nation is in the Top 15 because of bombs or oil. Admittedly, rewarding a country for possessing nuclear weapons seems on its face a bad idea—it encourages nuclear proliferation. But nations that possess nuclear weapons lose the most when yet another country goes nuclear. So why not acknowledge those who have the bomb, while making them responsible for keeping the Nuclear Club's doors shut to future members?

Within the Top 15, the ranking’s most astounding feature is its placing China ahead of the U.S., and India, Russia, and Brazil in the top 5. Actually, it’s not such a surprise to have former superpower Russia near the top. And aren’t we all increasingly aware of the impact China’s and now India’s rapid economic growth is having on the global economy? The Top 5 ranking of both confirms economic reality. Brazil? It's another India on the way.