Encyclopedia
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
Great power. It was a term first applied in 1943 to the
Soviet Union, the
United States, and the
British Empire. Following
World War II, the British Empire was dismantled and the Soviet Union and the United States were regarded as the only two superpowers; engaged in the
Cold War.
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.
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 about the same as the United States; as a result some consider that despite not being politically unified, it may be
either an emerging
or existing superpower, depending on one's viewpoint. However, as mentioned above, mainstream journalists and most of academia holds that only the United States fills this position as superpower .
However, 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 used to describe nations with greater than Great Power status as early as the 1930s, but only gained its specific meaning with regard to the US and the Soviet Union after World War II.
The term in its current political meaning was coined in the book
The Superpowers, written by William Thornton Rickert Fox, an American foreign policy professor at
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 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 , 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 blocs, or even only two nations, 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,
Spanish Empire,
British Empire and even the empire of
Alexander the Great – 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, but the following elements are generally held to be significant.
;
Military: Ability to project power around the world. In the modern world, this requires not only a strong military , but also the air- and sea-lift capabilities to deploy and supply that military in furtherance of national interests, as well as public support for doing so.
;
Cultural: Strong cultural influence,
soft power. Cultural influence implies a developed philosophy and ideology.
;
Geographical: 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.
The Cold War era
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. 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 . 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. |
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. 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, 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, 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.
The United States
Most people consider the United States the only sovereign nation-state, or country, that meets all criteria for being a superpower.
Geographic factors- The United States is the third largest country in the world by land area, after Russia and Canada.
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..
Political factors- It is a stable democratic republic.
- It contributes around 22% of the United Nations budget, and is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council .
- 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. The US has nearly 30% of the global market exchange-rate GDP. It is characterized by moderate to high economic growth.
- 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. The U.S. has the third largest per-capita GDP in the world, following Luxemburg and Norway
...
. The average American does, however, spend considerably more of his or her life working than does the average European..
- Over the past 20 years, America's economic growth rate has averaged just over 3 percent per year.
- 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 , 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.
Military factors- The U.S. spends more on its military than the next twelve countries combined. 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 .
European Union controversy
Some may also argue that the European Union is a superpower, if seen as an entity. Given planned force expansion, Europe will field 4 fleet aircaft carriers as well as more than half a dozen smaller escort carriers and numerous surface warships by 2015. Combined with the Airbus A400M and aerial refueling tanker orders, this sea power will, if placed at EU disposal, unquestionably achieve superpower status for Europe.
The EU mostly consists of developed countries, which combined in a union may form a superpower. This contrasts to India and China who are politically unified but still lack some economic, political, military, and social development. The European Union contains several current
great powers - the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy - along with 21 other countries.
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. The EU currently features the world's largest
GDP and consumer market, if you combine all it's member states. If considered unified, some might consider the EU a super-power.
- 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 permanent 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, which was typical of the
United States and
Soviet Union in the
Cold War. Examples include candidate nations and
EFTA members outside of the Union.
It may 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, however it is uncertain if the effectiveness of such influence would be equal to that of a politically integrated superpower for comparision.
Much of the debate seems to stem from the EU being a
sui generis entity.
Emerging superpowers
People's Republic of China
The People's Republic of China is often considered an emerging superpower . Excluding economic data from
Hong Kong and
Macau,
Mainland China is currently the world's second largest economy in terms of real GDP and the fourth largest economy in terms of nominal GDP and is considered an emerging superpower due to its large population and extremely rapid economic expansion with an annual growth rate of 9.9%. With the world's largest armed forces, China is currently one of the only
five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Republic of India
The
Republic of India is currently the world's fourth largest economy in terms of real GDP and the tenth largest economy in terms of nominal GDP , with an annual growth rate of 8.1% . It is considered as a possible future superpower because it has a growing skilled workforce , a young population, and the second fastest growing major economy. 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. With India's democratic institutions, it is seen as a slow, but a stable long term growth story.
References and sources
AsiaUSABooks
