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[edit] Superpowers today

A piechart showing the comparison in share of GDP (PPP) between the entities discussed in this article. The entities discussed in this article take up 51% of the world's total GDP.

The post-Cold War world is widely considered as a unipolar world^{[citation needed]}, with the United States as the world's sole remaining superpower, with the largest economic and military strength. The assessment of current global politics may not be so easily simplified, because of the difficulty of classifying the European Union at its current stage of development. Additionally many argue that the EU is underestimated^[1], 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.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Russia, as the legal successor state to the Soviet Union, also retains certain aspects of a superpower, such as a vast nuclear arsenal, a large population, the 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.^{[citation needed]}

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

[edit] The United States

Most people consider the United States the only sovereign nation-state that meets all criteria for being a superpower.^{[citation needed]} There are, however, some who believe that the EU is also a superpower (see John McCormick, "The European Superpower") - as it would be if the qualities of its member states are combined^{[citation needed]} - and conversely there are many who do not hold such beliefs.^[10]

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.^{[citation needed]}
• 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.^{[citation needed]}

Political factors

• It is a stable federal republic.
• It contributes around 22% of the United Nations budget^{[citation needed]}, and is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (with veto power).
• Its stance on world issues is usually supported by other nations, especially the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Israel.

Economic and financial factors

• The U.S. has the world's largest national economy with over $12 trillion.^{[citation needed]} The US has nearly 30% of the global market exchange-rate GDP.^{[citation needed]} It is characterized by moderate to high economic growth.^{[citation needed]}

• The U.S. has a per-capita GDP much greater than any emerging superpower and higher than that of most industrialized countries, at USD $41,800.^{[citation needed]} The U.S. has the third largest per-capita GDP in the world, following Luxemburg and Norway.^{[citation needed]} The average American does, however, spend considerably more of his or her life working than does the average European.^[11](see the controversies about GDP).
• Over the past 20 years, America's economic growth rate has averaged just over 3 percent per year.^{[citation needed]}
• The U.S. is headquarters for many global corporations and financial institutions.
• American companies are leading players in in many fields, such as new materials, electronics and telecommunications, information technology, aerospace, energy, nanotechnology, biotechnology, medicine, bioinformatics, chemical engineering, and software.
• The country is a key agricultural and commodities producer[1] PDF, although it is dependent on petroleum imports.
• It has a decisive influence on international financial bodies, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; the American dollar is perhaps the most important reserve and convertible currency in the world.^{[citation needed]}

U.S. and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945-2005.

Military factors

• The U.S. spends more on its military than the next twelve countries combined.^{[citation needed]} As of 2006, it has the world's largest nuclear arsenal 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.

Cultural factors

• American culture is influential worldwide, especially in the English-speaking world (soft power, Anti-Americanism).

[edit] European Union controversy

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

[edit] The Cold War era

Main article: Cold War

     Union of Soviet Socialist Republics      United States of America

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 largest country in the world, with an area of approximately 9.6 million km²[2]. 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. Communist ideals attractive to many over the world.	Huge influence over most of continent, integrated culture with Western Europe. Companies sold American and American-inspired cultural products all over the world. Freedom of speech attractive to many.
Military	Had the largest army in world history (13 million in 1946). Sizeable air force, strong navy. World's largest stocks of nuclear weapons, 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 nuclear arsenal in the world stationed on its own soil, and also in Europe. Technologically advanced army and world's largest navy.
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. Strong currency, the US dollar.
Demographic	Had a population of 293 million, was the third largest on Earth.	Has a population expected to hit 300 million. Now the third largest on Earth.

[edit] Superpowers today

A piechart showing the comparison in share of GDP (PPP) between the entities discussed in this article. The entities discussed in this article take up 51% of the world's total GDP.

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. The assessment of current global politics may not be so easily simplified, because of the difficulty of classifying the European Union at its current stage of development. Additionally many argue that the EU is underestimated^[1], 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.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Russia, as the legal successor state to the Soviet Union, also retains certain aspects of a superpower, such as a vast nuclear arsenal, a large population, the 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.^{[citation needed]}

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

[edit] The United States

Most people consider the United States the only sovereign nation-state that meets all criteria for being a superpower. There are, however, some who believe that the EU is also a superpower (see John McCormick, "The European Superpower") - as it would be if the qualities of its member states are combined^{[citation needed]} - and conversely there are many who do not hold such beliefs.^[10]

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.^{[citation needed]}
• 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.^{[citation needed]}

Political factors

• It is a stable democratic republic.
• It contributes around 22% of the United Nations budget^{[citation needed]}, and is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (with veto power).
• Its stance on world issues is usually supported by other nations, especially the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Israel.

Economic and financial factors

• The U.S. has the world's largest national economy with over $12 trillion.^{[citation needed]} The US has nearly 30% of the global market exchange-rate GDP.^{[citation needed]} It is characterized by moderate to high economic growth.^{[citation needed]}

• The U.S. has a per-capita GDP much greater than any emerging superpower and higher than that of most industrialized countries, at USD $41,800.^{[citation needed]} The U.S. has the third largest per-capita GDP in the world, following Luxemburg and Norway.^{[citation needed]} The average American does, however, spend considerably more of his or her life working than does the average European.^[11](see the controversies about GDP).
• Over the past 20 years, America's economic growth rate has averaged just over 3 percent per year.^{[citation needed]}
• The U.S. is headquarters for many global corporations and financial institutions.
• American companies are leading players in in many fields, such as new materials, electronics and telecommunications, information technology, aerospace, energy, nanotechnology, biotechnology, medicine, bioinformatics, chemical engineering, and software.
• The country is a key agricultural and commodities producer[3] PDF, although it is dependent on petroleum imports.
• It has a decisive influence on international financial bodies, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; the American dollar is perhaps the most important reserve and convertible currency in the world.

U.S. and USSR/Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles, 1945-2005.

Military factors

• The U.S. spends more on its military than the next twelve countries combined.^{[citation needed]} As of 2006, it has the world's largest nuclear arsenal 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.

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 country in the world.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] European Union controversy

Main article: European Union as an emerging superpower

The economy of the European Union member states, if combined, is the strongest in the world (although the strongest unified economy in the world is the U.S.) and gives the EU considerable political power.

There is some controversy as to whether the European Union should be considered a current or emerging superpower.^{[citation needed]}

Indeed, 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, generally still considered an emerging superpower^{[citation needed]} as it is not fully united. This contrasts to India and China who are politically unified but still lack some economic, political, militaristic, and social development. The European Union contains several current great powers - the United Kingdom, Germany, and France - along with 22 other countries. If considered as a full unit, the EU would be a superpower.^{[citation needed]}

The EU currently features the world's largest GDP and consumer market^{[citation needed]} and has considerable control over the global allocation of resources^{[citation needed]}, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Overall the twenty-five member states also have significant cultural influences on the entire globe^{[citation needed]}, 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.^[12]

Also, the EU even seems to have developed a sphere of influence of close geographical nations, which was typical of the United States and Soviet Union in the Cold War.^[13] Examples include candidate nations and EFTA members outside of the Union.

It could also be argued that full political integration is not always required for the European Union to wield international influence in the way a superpower would do^{[citation needed]}, however it is uncertain if the effectiveness of such influence would be equal to that of a politically integrated superpower (e.g. United States) for comparision. Further more some EU powers are specific to it, as EU enlargments.

Much of the confusion seems to stem from the EU being a sui generis entity.

[edit] Emerging superpowers

Main article: Emerging superpowers

People's Republic of China     Republic of India     European Union

[edit] People's Republic of China

Main article: People's Republic of China as an emerging superpower

The People's Republic of China is often considered an emerging superpower ^[14]. Excluding economic data from Hong Kong and Macau, Mainland China is currently the world's second largest economy in terms of real GDP (PPP) and the fourth largest economy in terms of nominal GDP (market exchange rates) and is considered an emerging superpower due to its large population and extremely rapid economic expansion with an annual growth rate of 9.9%. ^[15] With the world's largest armed forces, China is currently one of the only five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

[edit] Republic of India

Main article: India as an emerging superpower

The Republic of India is currently the world's fourth largest economy in terms of real GDP (PPP) and the tenth largest economy in terms of nominal GDP (market exchange rates), with an annual growth rate of 8.1% ^[16]. It is considered as a possible future superpower because it has a growing skilled workforce (particularly in the service sector and IT industry), a young population, and the second fastest growing major economy^[17][18]. It has a well trained Military coming with the world's fourth largest air force and a naval force which is long considered having "Blue water" capabilities. ^[19] With India's democratic institutions, it is seen as a slow, but a stable long term growth story.^[20]

[edit] References and sources

Asia

• China, India Superpower? Not so Fast!

USA

• New study compares GDP and growth: EU versus USA

Books

• Todd, Emmanuel (200X). After the Empire — The Breakdown of the American Order. 
• Kennedy, Paul (1988). The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. ISBN 0-679-72019-7. 
• Belt, Don (2004). "Europe's Big Gamble", National Geographic, 54-65. 
• Brzezinski, Zbigniew (1997). The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02726-1. 
• McCormick, John (2006). The European Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan. 

cs:Supervelmoc

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