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 Two, applied to the British Empire.

Currently one superpower exists, the United States; sometimes, given the unipolar nature of the world, claimed to be 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 comparable to the United States; as a result some consider that it too could emerge as a superpower, despite not being politically unified.

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).Template:Inote

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 chief ally of the United States, and the most important and most powerful ally 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 favour of a multipolar balance of power.

There have been attempts to stretch the term back in time. As such some consider as superpowers the Mongol Empire, Ancient Rome, and even the empire of Alexander of Macedon - this is not widespread however, and the validity of this tendency is disputed.

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The criteria of a superpower are not clearly defined and as a consequence they may differ between sources. The following criteria should therefore be interpreted as a non-exhaustive list of power factors 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 reorganisation 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.

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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, but more correctly Stalinism, 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 federal republic, 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.
Geographic	Covered 22 million km², 11 time zones; was largest country in the world. Covered huge sea area, vast deposits of minerals and large farming areas.	Third largest country in the world, with an area of approximately 9.6 million km²[1]. Vast resources of minerals, large farming industry.
Cultural	Vast influence over neighbours, 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	Only two countries to participate in human space exploration and to build 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.	Population of approximately 280 million.

The post-Cold War world is considered a unipolar world, as the United States is the world's sole remaining superpower, with the largest economic and military strength. Russia, however, as the legal successor state to the Soviet Union, also retains certain aspects of a superpower (e.g. large 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. Other powers could possibly benefit from this decline, eventually overtaking the United States' leading position.

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 may be called a hyperpower as it is politically more unified than the European Union. [2], although this is disputed [3].

Geographical factors

• The United States is the third largest country in the world, after Russia and Canada

Demographic factors

• It has a large, though relatively slowly-growing, population of almost 300 million, about 5% of the world's population.
• It has a high Human Development Index, according to the UN.PDF.

Political factors

• It is a stable two-party democratic republic.
• It contributes around 22% of the United Nations budget, and is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (with veto power).
• Its stance on world issues is supported by other nations, especially the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Israel.

Economic and financial factors

• The United States is the world's largest national economy and has nearly 30% of the global market exchange rate GDP. It is characterized by moderate to high economic growth.
• The infrastructure of the United States is well-planned and highly developed.
• It is headquarters for many global corporations and financial institutions.
• It holds a key role in many fields such as new materials, electronics and telecommunications, information technology, aerospace, energy, nanotechnology, biotechnology, medicine, bioinformatics, chemical engineering, and software.

• It has the largest capital markets in the world, [4] and is the largest debtor nation, owing more than USD 9 trillion in 2005, a debt growing at the rate of USD 3 billion per working day. [5]
• The country is a key producer in the areas of agriculture and commodities [6] PDF, although it is dependent on petroleum imports.
• It has a decisive influence on financial international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the American dollar is the most important reserve and convertible currency in the world.

Military factors

• The US spends more on its military than the next twelve countries combined. 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 (currently grounded, planning to return to flight in July 2006) 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.

Cultural factors

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

While there is some controversy over the EU being a superpower or not, its sheer gross domestic product and cotrol as well as cultural influence over the world set it apart from China, India and the US. Despite the fact that the EU is not a country and therefore not a superpower in the same sense as the United States whose unformed governement policy gives it unrivaled diplomatic and military power, its is one of the worlds most powerful unions. European culture has a profound imapct on the world, whether it be fashion, music, entertainment, or automobiles. With a GDP of over twelve trillion US dollars the EU and its corperations and ivestors have imense power over the world economy and the global allocation of resources.

Geographical factors

• The Eruopean Union consists of twenty-five member states from Western Europe as well as from former communist Eastern Europe.
• It has a very large population of almost 460 million, about 7.6% of the world's population.
• It has a high Human Development Index, according to the UN.PDF.

Political factors

• All member states feature stable democartic governments with some featuring monarchs.
• Grat Britan and France, are both United Nations Security Council (with veto power).
• Its stance on world issues is supported by other nations, especially in South America, Canada, Japan, and Russia.

Economic and financial factors

• According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank the European Union has the world's largest gross domestic product. The EU's GDP is with 12,020,939 (World Bank), slightly larger than that of the US with 11,651,110 (World Bank). Only according to the CIA does the EU rank second, two hundred billion short of the US.
• The infrastructure of the United States is well-planned and highly developed. With high-speed trains and the Autobahn being the perhaps most symbolic feats or civil engineering in the EU.
• Many of its western member states are the headquarters for many global corporations and financial institutions, such as Daimler-Chrylser, T-Mobile, RWE, Renault, or British Petroleum (Arco in the US), to name a few.
• It holds a key role in many fields such as new materials, electronics and telecommunications, information technology, aerospace, energy, nanotechnology, biotechnology, medicine, bioinformatics, chemical engineering, and software.
• The European Union is the largest exporter of goods in the world, with exports totaling over 970.6 billion
• The country is a key producer in the areas of agriculture and commodities [7] PDF, although it is dependent on petroleum imports.
• The European Union hold two of the world's most widely accepted currencies, the British Pound and the Eruo.

Military factors

• While the European Union often abstains from military missions, its western member states feature some of the best equipped militaries in the world with the United Kingdom frequently supporting the American military.

Space technology factor

• The European Union is home to the ESA (European Space Agency), which sent a probe to Mars in 2004 and is one of the two principal builders (the other being the United States) of the International Space Station. The two Mars Exploration Rovers have been exploring the surface of Mars since January 2004.

Cultural factors

• The EU is what is commonly refered to as a soft power. Eurpoean culuter has influenced the world and especially other nations consisting mostly of the descendands of European immigrants such as Australia, Canada, and the United States
• European fashion has been seen as the benchmark for fashion design across the world. Many of the world's most highly acclaimed luxury marques such as Cartier, Amrani, Gucci, Parada, and Rolex orgininate from the EU.
• Music from the EU has long had a major influence on the global music indutry. Whehter it be Bach, Wagner, Mozart or the Beattles, Rolling Stones, or German techno music, the EU continues to be a trendsetter in the world of music.

China, the European Union and India are referred to in many media sources as having the potential to become superpowers. Template:Inote

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

Excluding economic data from Hong Kong and Taiwan, the People's Republic of 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.

Main Article: European Union as an emerging superpower

The European Union contains the former principal colonial powers of the United Kingdom, Germany, & France, along with 23 other countries. If considered as a full unit, the EU can be considered a superpower. 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 defence - are exercised principally by member states. However, should this change the EU would become a superpower instantly.

Main article: India as an emerging superpower

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).

• Global CPR
• China: Asia's Emerging Superpower - Encyclopædia Britannica