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A superpower is a state with the first rank in the international system and the ability to influence events and project power on a worldwide scale; it is considered a higher level of power than a major power. It was a term applied to the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War, although it was for a short time, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, applied to the British Empire.

Currently, the most common belief among mainstream journalists and in the world of academia holds that only the United States fulfills the criteria to be considered a superpower; sometimes, given the unipolar nature of the world, it is described as a hyperpower Encyclopaedia Britannica The World's Sole Superpower .

China and India appear to have the greatest potential, amongst all the other nations, of achieving superpower or near-superpower status within the 21st century and are often termed as emerging superpowers.

The European Union has economic power comparable to the United States; as a result some consider that it may be an emerging or existing superpower (or that its economic power makes it one already, see below), despite not being politically unified.

Many others doubt the existence of superpowers altogether, stating that today's complex global marketplace and the rising interdependency between the world's nations has made the concept of a superpower an idea of the past and that the world is now multipolar.

Origins

The term "superpower" was first used in this context in 1930, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, but did not become a primarily descriptive term for the United States and the Soviet Union until the immediate post-war years (in the 1920s the term was used to describe electrification).

The term in its current political meaning is relatively new and was coined in the book The Superpowers, written by William Thornton Rickert Fox, an American foreign policy professor at the Columbia University in 1943. Fox used this word to identify a new category of power able to occupy the highest status in a world in which, as the war then raging demonstrated, states could challenge and fight each other on a global scale. According to him, there were (at that moment) three states that were superpowers: the United States, the Soviet Union, and the British Empire.

The Suez Crisis made it clear that the British Empire, economically ravaged by two world wars, could no longer compete on an equal footing with the Soviet Union and the United States without sacrificing its reconstruction efforts, even while acting in concert with France and Israel. Thus, the United Kingdom became the closest connected, most important and most powerful ally of the United States on the American side of the Cold War.

As the majority of World War II was fought far from its national boundaries, the United States did not suffer the industrial destruction or massive civilian casualties that marked the wartime situation of the countries in Europe or Asia. During the war, the United States had built up a strong industrial and technological infrastructure that had greatly advanced its military strength into a primary position on the global stage.

Following the war, nearly all of Europe had aligned either with the United States or the Soviet Union. Despite attempts to create multinational coalitions or legislative bodies (such as the United Nations), it became increasingly clear that the United States and the Soviet Union were the dominant political and economic powers of the newly emerging Cold War, and had very different visions about what the post-war world ought to look like. This was reflected in the NATO and Warsaw Pact military alliances. These alliances implied that these two nations were part of an emerging bipolar world, in contrast with a previously multipolar world. A number of nations undertook various programs to attempt to secure their own independent "superpower" status, such as the development of nuclear weapons by the United Kingdom, France, and China, as a rite of passage for being a "world player."

The idea that the Cold War period revolved around only two nations, or even only two blocs, has been challenged by some scholars in the post-Cold War era, who have noted that the bipolar world only exists if one ignores all of the various movements and conflicts that occurred without influence from either of the two so-called superpowers. Additionally, much of the conflict between the superpowers was fought in "proxy wars", which more often than not involved issues far more complex than the standard Cold War oppositions.

After the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s, the term hyperpower began to be applied to the United States, as the sole remaining superpower of the Cold War era. This term, coined by French foreign minister Hubert Védrine in the 1990s, is controversial and the validity of classifying the United States in this way is disputed. One notable opponent to this theory, Samuel P. Huntington, rejects this theory in favor of a multipolar balance of power.

There have been attempts to stretch the term back in time. As such some consider as superpowers the Persian Empire, Chinese Empires, Gupta Empire, Maurya Empire, Mongol Empire, Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire, and even the empire of Alexander of Macedon – this is not widespread however, and the validity of this tendency is disputed.

Characteristics of a superpower

The criteria of a superpower are not clearly defined and as a consequence they may differ between sources. However, the following factors can be interpreted as a non-exhaustive list of characteristics that are generally associated with superpowers.

Cultural:Strong cultural influence, having soft power. Cultural influence implies a developed philosophy and ideology.

Geographical:It should have a wide land or sea area under its control. Territory allows a country to mine minerals and grow food, increasing its self-sufficiency. It is an important factor in warfare as it allows possibilities such as retreat, regrouping and reorganization as well as placing distant radars and missile silos - even a richer country with smaller territory is more vulnerable in a military sense.

Economic and financial:Superior economic power is characterized by access to raw materials, volume and productivity of the domestic market, a leading position in world trade as well as global financial markets, innovation, and the ability to accumulate capital. Human space exploration may be considered one of the key defining economic characteristics of the Cold War superpowers, as this ability was a source of intense rivalry between them for decades. Space exploration represents an ability to spend in drastically wide-scale operations.

Demographic:A superpower should have a large and educated populace and should have a highly developed infrastructure and pronounced cultural and economic ability to shape the regions around them as well as the ones under direct control.

Military:Pre-eminent military ability, characterized by relative invulnerability, ability to deter or cause great damage, and capacity to effectively project unified military power globally, including nuclear weapons. However, nuclear weapons alone do not necessarily make a nation a superpower, and being a superpower may not necessarily require nuclear weapons, although some would agree that one should at least have the ability to create them relatively quickly. Nations such as Japan would fit this definition.

Political or ideological:A functioning political system that is capable of mobilizing resources for world political goals and immense ideological influence.

Lifted from Global CPR - http://www.globalcpr.com/org/super.html

The Cold War era

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The term 'superpower' in this context was originally coined to describe the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, which opposed each other politically and economically during the Cold War.

The Soviet Union represented the ideology of Communism, and led the Warsaw Pact, known as the Eastern Bloc in the West.

The United States represented the ideology of capitalism and led NATO during the Cold War.

The Soviet Union and the United States fulfilled the superpower criteria in the following ways:

The Soviet Union The United States
Political Strong system of government. Communist ideals spread influence over the globe. Had permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Strong ties with Eastern Europe and the developing world. Strong and stable liberal democracy, influence over the globe. Strong companies allowed the US to exert further influence over capitalist nations. Permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Strong ties with Western Europe and the East Asian democracies.
Geographic Covered 22 million km², 11 time zones; was the largest country in the world. Covered huge sea area, and encompassed vast deposits of minerals and large farming areas. Third (or fourth) largest country in the world, with an area of approximately 9.6 million km²*. Vast resources of minerals, large farming industry.
Cultural Vast influence over neighbors, varied and rich history and culture. Wielded influence through socialist and communist governments and organizations around the world. Huge influence over most of continent, integrated culture with Western Europe. Companies sold American culture over the world. Freedom of speech attractive to many over the world.
Military The largest army the world has ever seen. Sizeable air force, imposing navy. Largest nuclear arsenal in the world, the largest territory in the world with an abundance of strategic resources, and the capability to develop advanced military and space technologies. Bases all over the world, second largest stocks of nuclear weapons not only stationed on own soil, but also in Europe. Technologically advanced army and world's largest and most technologically advanced navy.
Space technology Both countries participated in human space exploration and built space stations in the 20th century, with pre-eminence in robotic exploration and satellite technology.
Economic Was the largest centrally directed economy in the world. At one point, produced 20% of the world's industrial output Largest capitalist economy in the world. Very strong currency, the US dollar.
Demographic Had a population of 293 million, third largest on Earth. Had a population of approximately 249 million, fourth largest on Earth.

Superpowers today

The post-Cold War world is widely considered as a unipolar world, with the United States as the world's sole remaining superpower, with the largest economic and military strength. This, however, is not that simple, because of the difficulty of classifying the European Union at its current stage of development. Additionally many argue that the EU is underestimated, while others argue that the notion of a superpower is antiquated, considering the complex global economic interdependencies that define this new century, and proposing that the world is Multipolar.

Russia, however, as the legal successor state to the Soviet Union, also retains certain aspects of a superpower, such as a large nuclear arsenal, large population, largest territory in the world with an abundance of strategic resources, and the capability to develop advanced military and space technologies.

Some analysts think the hegemonic stability theory explains the current evolution in international relations. Hegemonic states tend to overstretch their power, and new rivals will become gradually more powerful, eventually replacing or counterbalancing the weakened hegemony. Some believe this is actually happening at the moment.

Possible signals that a multipolar world is emerging are the rise of China and India, combined with the possibilities raised by the enormous economic clout of the European Union.

The United States

Most people (see introduction) consider the United States the only country that now meets all superpower criteria. There are, however, some who believe that the EU is also a superpower, as it would be if the qualities of its member states are combined, and conversely there are many who do not hold such beliefs.

Geographic factors

  • The United States is the third largest country in the world by land area, after Russia and Canada. (Counting the disputed Taiwanese area as part of China places the United States in fourth place.)

Demographic factors

  • With almost 300 million people, about 5% of the world population, the U.S. is the world's third most populous nation and the most populous with a high Human Development Index.
  • It has the highest population growth rate of all developed nations.
  • It has a high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations, ranking number ten.PDF.
  • It is the only industrialized country not expected to experience a loss in work-force or general population in the coming decades.

Political factors

Economic and financial factors

Military factors
  • The U.S. spends more on its military than the next twelve countries combined, if not counting the EU. It has the second largest nuclear arsenal (after Russia) and combines some of the world's most technologically advanced weapons systems with the expeditionary capability to project military power to any point in the world.

Space-technology factor

  • The United States continues to operate and develop advanced space technologies. It operates the Space Shuttle and is planning the Crew Exploration Vehicle to explore the Moon and Mars. It is one of the two principal builders of the International Space Station. The two Mars Exploration Rovers have been exploring the surface of Mars since January 2004. On July 4th, 2006, the United States space shuttle Discovery made a dramatic return to space, marking the revival of the space shuttle fleet.

Cultural factors

  • American culture is influential worldwide, especially in the English-speaking world (soft power, Anti-Americanism).
  • Built by immigrants, and aided by continuing immigration, is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse countries in the world. But deep divisions are shown to lie under American immigration policies. For example, see Hurricane Katrina.

European Union debate

There is some debate as to whether the European Union should be considered a superpower. If the qualities of its member states were to be combined the EU would be a superpower rivaling the United States. The European Union is, however, still considered an emerging superpower as it is yet not fully united. This contrast to China and India who are politically unified but still lack some economic development. The European Union contains several current great powers, including the United Kingdom, Germany, & France, along with 22 other countries. If considered as a full unit, the EU can be considered a superpower.

The EU currently features the world's largest GDP and consumer market and has considerable control over the global allocation of resources, yet it is currently argued that the European Union is too politically and culturally fragmented to be considered as a single unit, especially since two of the principal levers of power - foreign policy and defense - are exercised principally by the individual member states. Overall the twenty-five member states also have significant cultural influences on the entire globe, with European fashion, art and food being common place in nearly every corner of the planet. France and the United Kingdom are also members of the UN Security Council and have veto power. In terms of education, eight of the top fifteen ranks on the PISA were filled by EU member states with all western member states being represented among the top thirty.

Also, the EU even seems to have developed a sphere of influence of close geographical nations. Examples include candidate nations and EFTA members outside of the Union. A sphere of influence is, of course, a typical hallmark of a superpower. It is arguable the EU's massive influence even inspired the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, a level of influence not seen outside the US's sphere of influence since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Much of the confusion seems to stem from the EU being a sui generis entity.

Emerging superpowers

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China and India are referred to in many media sources as having the potential to become superpowers.

People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China is often considered a rising superpower . Excluding economic data from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, Mainland China is currently the world's fourth largest economy in terms of market exchange rates and the second largest economy in terms of real GDP (PPP) and is considered a rising superpower due to its large, stable and highly productive population, its rapidly growing economy which has an annual growth rate of 9.2%, and its rapidly growing military spending and capabilities.

Republic of India

The Republic of India is currently the world's twelfth largest economy in terms of market exchange rates and the fourth largest economy in terms of real GDP (PPP) with an annual growth rate of 8.1%. It is considered as a possible future superpower because it has a growing skilled workforce and one of the fastest growing economies (especially in the service sector and software industry). India is generally preferred as an emerging superpower by the United States, because of its democratic institutions and large English-speaking population, which is largely a remnant of India being a British Colony until 1947. The Trailing Edge India as a future superpower by Peter Drucker

See also

References and sources

Asia

USA

Books

International relations

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Superpower".

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