In the absence of obiwan18 I have been asked to post a science poll.
The situation: We are researching Conscription, s l o w l y. It seems that nobody else knows Conscription - the Americans are learning Physics, which we already know. The Greeks are 'way behind. Tech theft doesn't seem viable at the moment - the Germans and Zulus haven't sent swarms of Fundamentalists, Armor, or Riflemen abroad
After Conscription, what next?
Given that we may not get the full list of choices once we learn Conscription, please indicate a second choice in the second half of the above poll. Obviously this choice should be different from your first choice. 
My recommendation is Fundamentalism. We'll eliminate all the unhappiness and a lot of the corruption by going Fundy. We also will be able to garrison our cities with the cheap Fundamentalist unit, which should hold up pretty well against any attackers short of Artillery/Cavalry (thereby freeing up a lot of defenders to go to war).
My second choice would be Explosives. Railroad would be nice, but I suspect that we would be able to conquer the world just as fast with roads. Engineers allow us to build roads quickly, and make tricks like the instant fort even easier.
