Jump to content

Potential superpower

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Potential superpowers)

Extant superpower Potential superpowers—supported in varying degrees by academics
  China
  India
  Russia

A potential superpower is a sovereign state or other polity that is speculated to be or have the potential to become a superpower; a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to exert influence and project power on a global scale through economic, military, technological, political, and/or cultural means.[1][2][3]

After the United States, which, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, is currently considered to be the world's foremost[4] and sole widely undisputed[5]—and by some accounts only[6][7][8]—superpower, only China, the European Union, India, and Russia have consistently been academically discussed as potential superpowers of the 21st century, with Japan having been a former candidate in the 1980s.

China

[edit]

The People's Republic of China has arguably received the most consistent coverage in the popular press of its potential superpower status,[9][10][11][12][13][14] and has been identified as a rising or emerging economic and military superpower by academics and other experts.[15][16][17][18] One source argued that "China certainly presents the most promising all-round profile" of a potential superpower, having high economic growth and a large population.[19] According to U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, China represents the "biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century" to the United States, as it is "the only country with enough power to jeopardize the current global order".[20]

Great focus has been placed on China's growing economic activity on the global stage, in particular where it has been in competition with the United States. Examples of this have included the establishing and large-scale expansion in countries joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in contrast to traditional western institutions, along with the Belt and Road Initiative and China's role in the worldwide groundings of the Boeing 737 MAX.[21][22] It has also been argued that the future is likely to be of growing competition between two highly dominant countries in the form of the United States and China while others begin to lag behind economically.[23] Predictions have also been made of it overtaking the United States as the world's largest economy in the 2020s.[24] Due to the country's rapidly developing AI industry, China has also been referred to as an "AI superpower".[25][26][27]

In contrast to this however there have been some who question how long this pace of economic growth could continue, with emphasis placed on China's very large but ageing and shrinking population of over 1.4 billion, and long-term effects of pollution within the country that have accumulated during its fast pace of industrialisation, and also that while it continues to grow it has yet to prove attractive to skilled immigration from outside the country in the same way other countries like the United States have.[28][29][30][31] A supposed lack of soft power is another aspect of contention to China's status as a potential superpower.[32][33]

There has been significant discussion around the ability for China to project power militarily. There has been argument that its ties with Russia and Central Asia could see the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation become the "NATO of the East".[34] It has also been argued that American absence from the Indo-Pacific region during the war on terror has allowed Chinese to actively challenge the United States as the pre-eminent power in the region.[35] Others have argued however that China still remains surrounded by potentially hostile nations and still lacks few friends or allies necessary for it to truly compete with the United States.[36]

European Union

[edit]

The European Union (EU) has been called an emerging superpower or having already achieved that status, primarily to do with its economic power and political influence on the world stage. Factors highlighted have included its large population, the size and global reach of its combined economy, and the comparative unpopularity of US foreign policy.[37][38]

Despite lacking a cohesive military of its own, with military capabilities still the matter of individual member states, it has been argued that this is irrelevant in the 21st century and accordingly so when considering the status of the EU as a potential superpower.[39][40] Others however have questioned this interpretation, instead arguing that its lack of a unified military structure compared to the United States undermines the case that the EU is a potential superpower.[41][42]

The EU's lack of political integration has also come under conflicting views regarding its effect on superpower status. Some have argued that its more "low profile" diplomacy and emphasis on the rule of law represent a new kind of geopolitical influence that fulfills the political requirements for consideration of being a superpower rather than simply failing to meet them.[38][43] Others however argue that its lack of a centralised foreign or defence policy leaves its effectiveness uncertain when compared to that of a more politically integrated union of states such as the United States,[44][19] and it has even been argued that the EU remains as little more than an extension of a Europe reliant or dominated by the United States.[45]

The European Union has been called a "regulatory superpower" due to the Brussels effect, which suggests that regulations and standards applicable in the EU will also be adopted by numerous countries outside the EU over time.[46][47][48]

India

[edit]

The Republic of India has seen considerable coverage of its potential of becoming a superpower economically. Multiple opinions have pointed towards India's rapid economic development as a reason for it to be considered a potential superpower, in particular during the 2010s when it was predicted to outpace China's growth into the future.[49][50][51][52] Economists and researchers at Harvard University have projected India's 7% projected annual growth rate through 2024 would continue to put it ahead of China, making India the fastest growing economy in the world.[53][54] Over and above, India also has the advantage of having a very large and growing young population with a median age of 28, compared to China's median age of 39.[55]

While India's economic growth has continued, others have noted that inequality remains high in the country and that its potential for trading appears more limited compared to regional rivals such as China, and that despite India briefly becoming the world's fastest-growing economy in 2015 its growth declined below China's since 2018.[56][57][58][59][60]

It has also been argued that India's government and bureaucracy is also geared against emerging as a superpower, with it being argued that it "does very little collective thinking about its long-term foreign policy goals, since most of the strategic planning that takes place within the government happens on an individual level".[61]

Russia

[edit]

Russia, since its imperial times, has been considered both a great power and a regional power. Throughout most of the Soviet-era, the Soviet Union was one of the world's two superpowers. However, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation as its successor state lost its superpower status. In the early 21st century, Russia has been suggested as a potential candidate for resuming superpower status,[62][63][64] while others have made the assertion that it is already a superpower.[65] In his 2005 publication entitled Russia in the 21st Century: The Prodigal Superpower, Steven Rosefielde, a professor of economics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, predicted that Russia would emerge as a superpower before 2010 and augur another arms race. However, Rosefielde noted that such an end would come with tremendous sacrifice to global security and the Russian people's freedom.[66][page needed] Stephen Kinzer of The Boston Globe compared Russia's actions with its own neighbouring territories, to those of "any other superpower", taking Ukraine and Crimea as examples.[67]

Others however have put forward more pessimistic views towards Russia's ability to regain its superpower status. A mixed opinion has been offered by Matthew Fleischer of the Los Angeles Times, contending that severe climate change would be necessary for much of Russia's inherent natural resources to become viable.[68]

Several analysts commented on the fact that Russia showed signs of an aging and shrinking population. Fred Weir said that this severely constricts and limits Russia's potential to re-emerge as a central world power.[69] In 2011, British historian and professor Niall Ferguson also highlighted the negative effects of Russia's declining population, and suggested that Russia is on its way to "global irrelevance".[70] Russia has, however, shown a slight population growth since the late 2000s, partly due to immigration, quickly rising birth rates, slowly declining death rates.[71]

Russia's ability to project hard power was also questioned following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the Russian military's poor performance prompting economist Paul Krugman to suggest Russia was little more than a "Potemkin Superpower".[72]

Comparative statistics of current candidates

[edit]
Country/Union Population[73][74] Area
(km2)
GDP (nominal)[75] GDP (PPP)[75] Military
expenditures
(Int$ billion)[76]
HDI[77] UN Security Council veto power
(USD million) Per capita ($) (Int$ million) Per capita (Int$)
 United States 332,632,918 9,525,067 25,035,164 68,309 22,675,271 75,180 877 0.926 (very high) Yes
 China 1,411,778,724 9,596,961 18,321,197 11,819 26,656,766 21,291 292 0.761 (high) Yes
 European Union 447,706,209 4,233,262 17,127,535 38,256 20,918,062 53,960 186[78] 0.911 (very high) (France)
 India 1,400,625,899 3,287,263 3,468,566 3,057 10,207,290 10,475 81.4 0.645 (medium) No
 Russia 146,171,015 17,125,191 2,133,092 11,654 4,328,122 31,967 86.4 0.824 (very high) Yes

Former candidate

[edit]

Japan

[edit]

In the 1980s, some political and economic analysts predicted that Japan would eventually accede to superpower status, due to its large population, growing economic, military, industrial, technological and cultural influence, large gross domestic product, and high economic growth at that time.[79][80][81] Japan's economy was expected to eventually surpass that of the United States.[82][83][80] However, this prediction failed to materialise following a stock market crash and the resulting "Lost Decades", where Japan has suffered a flat to negative economic outlook,[84] while its population has been aging since the late 1980s before suffering real decline in total population starting in 2011.[10][85]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Munro, André. "superpower". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  2. ^ Leonard, Mark (18 February 2005). "Europe: the new superpower". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  3. ^ McCormick, John (2007). The European Superpower. Palgrave Macmillan.
  4. ^ Lee, Yen Nee (2020-09-17). "The U.S. is still a dominant power — but it's not clear if it remains the global leader". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  5. ^ Mathew Burrows, Robert A. Manning (2020-08-17). "What Happens When America Is No Longer the Undisputed Super Power?". The National Interest. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  6. ^ Bremmer, Ian (2015-05-28). "5 Reasons Why the US Remains the World's Only Superpower". TIME. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  7. ^ Canada Among Nations, 2004: Setting Priorities Straight. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. 17 January 2005. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7735-2836-9. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2024. The United States is the sole world's superpower.
  8. ^ Dannatt, Richard (2024-04-14). "America has just reminded us there is only one world superpower". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  9. ^ "Visions of China – Asian Superpower". CNN. 1999. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  10. ^ a b "China's military presence is growing. Does a superpower collision loom?". The Guardian. 1 January 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  11. ^ Cordesman, Anthony (1 October 2019). "China and the United States: Cooperation, Competition, and/or Conflict". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved 22 March 2021. Seen from this perspective, such trends clearly that show that China already is a true economic superpower with growing resources and a steadily improving technology base. Its military structure is evolving to the point where China can compare or compete with the U.S. — at least in Asia.
  12. ^ Silver, Laura; Devlin, Kat; Huang, Christine (5 December 2019). "China's Economic Growth Mostly Welcomed in Emerging Markets, but Neighbors Wary of Its Influence". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 22 March 2021. China has emerged as a global economic superpower in recent decades. It is not only the world's second largest economy and the largest exporter by value, but it has also been investing in overseas infrastructure and development at a rapid clip
  13. ^ Lendon, Brad (5 March 2021). "China has built the world's largest navy. Now what's Beijing going to do with it?". CNN. Retrieved 22 March 2021. In 2018, China held 40% of the world's shipbuilding market by gross tons, according to United Nations figures cited by the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, well ahead of second place South Korea at 25%. Put in a historical perspective, China's shipbuilding numbers are staggering – dwarfing even the U.S. efforts of World War II. China built more ships in one year of peace time (2019) than the U.S. did in four of war (1941–1945).
  14. ^ Lemahieu, Herve (29 May 2019). "Five big takeaways from the 2019 Asia Power Index". Lowy Institute. Retrieved 22 March 2021. China, the emerging superpower, netted the highest gains in overall power in 2019, ranking first in half of the eight Index measures. For the first time, China narrowly edged out the United States in the Index's assessment of economic resources. In absolute terms China's economy grew by more than the total size of Australia's economy in 2018. The world's largest trading nation has also paradoxically seen its GDP become less dependent on exports. This makes China less vulnerable to an escalating trade war than most other Asian economies.
  15. ^ Romana, Chito (2 March 2010). "Does China Want to Be Top Superpower?". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  16. ^ "From Rural Transformation to Global Integration: The Environmental and Social Impacts of China's Rise to Superpower – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace". 9 February 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  17. ^ "China: The Balance Sheet Summary". getabstract.com. 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  18. ^ Uckert, Merri B. (April 1995). "China As An Economic and Military Superpower: A Dangerous Combination?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  19. ^ a b Buzan, Barry (2004). The United States and the Great Powers. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-7456-3375-7.
  20. ^ "China poses "biggest geopolitical test" for the U.S., Blinken says". NBC News. 2021-03-03. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  21. ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany (April 1, 2015). "Obama Is Sitting Alone at a Bar Drinking a Consolation Beer". Foreign Policy.
  22. ^ Aboulafia, Richard (March 20, 2019). "Boeing's Crisis Strengthens Beijing's Hand". Foreign Policy.
  23. ^ Tunsjø, Øystein (February 27, 2018). The Return of Bipolarity in World Politics: China, the United States, and Geostructural Realism. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231546904.
  24. ^ Thair Shaikh (10 June 2011). "When Will China Become a Global Superpower?". CNN. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  25. ^ Lee, Kai-Fu (September 25, 2018). AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  26. ^ Westerheide, Fabian. "China – The First Artificial Intelligence Superpower". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  27. ^ Milmo, Dan; editor, Dan Milmo Global technology (2021-12-08). "TechScape: how China became an AI superpower ready to take on the United States". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-07-19. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  28. ^ Beardson, Timothy (June 28, 2013). "I don't see China becoming a superpower in this century". The Times Of India. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  29. ^ Timothy Beardson (24 May 2013). "Action Needed on the Environment". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  30. ^ Susan Shirk (2008). China: Fragile Superpower. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537319-6.
  31. ^ Amy Chua (2007). Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall. Random House. ISBN 978-0-385-51284-8.
  32. ^ Swain, Ashok (2021-01-21). "China's economy and military can overtake US, but it still won't become global superpower". ThePrint. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  33. ^ "Today's China will never be a superpower". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  34. ^ Khanna, Parag. "Waving Goodbye to Hegemony". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  35. ^ Ashley Townshend, Brendan Thomas-Noone, Matilda Steward (19 August 2019). Averting Crisis: American strategy, military spending and collective defence in the Indo-Pacific. United States Studies Centre (Report).{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  36. ^ Minxin Pei (20 March 2012). "The Loneliest Superpower". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  37. ^ "Europe: the new superpower". CER. 18 February 2005. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  38. ^ a b John McCormick (14 November 2006). The European Superpower. Macmillan Education UK. ISBN 978-1-4039-9846-0.
  39. ^ Europe in the New Century: Visions of an Emerging Superpower. Lynne Rienner Publishers. 2001. ISBN 9781555878528. Retrieved 10 February 2012. Europe emerging superpower.
  40. ^ Trevor Williams (29 October 2008). "Danish Envoy: Economic Strength Makes EU a 'Rising Superpower'". Globalatlanta. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  41. ^ Robert Lane Greene (18 July 2003). "EU Constitution: A 'Superpower Europe' It Won't Be". Globalpolicy.org. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  42. ^ Colin S. Gray, "Document No. 1: The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), 2006, and the Perils of the Twenty-First Century," Comparative Strategy, 25/2, (2006): p 143.
  43. ^ Adrian Hyde-Price (23 October 2004). "The EU, Power and Coercion: From 'Civilian' to 'Civilising' Power" (PDF). ARENA Centre for European Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2009.
  44. ^ "Europe vs. America by Tony Judt". The New York Review of Books. 10 February 2005. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  45. ^ Zbigniew Brzezinski, Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power, (New York: Basic Books, 2012), p 22, 126.
  46. ^ dmalloy (2023-06-15). "The world's regulatory superpower is taking on a regulatory nightmare: artificial intelligence". Atlantic Council. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  47. ^ kdaponte (2023-05-24). "Meta fine shows EU is 'regulatory superpower,' Northeastern expert says". College of Social Sciences and Humanities. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  48. ^ Bradford, Anu (2020-03-01). "The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World". Faculty Books. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190088583.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-008858-3.
  49. ^ Dingman, Michael (2011-01-09). "India 2025: What kind of superpower?". The Economic Times. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  50. ^ "India will be the biggest superpower". Rediff. 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  51. ^ Subramanian, Samanth (1 May 2012). "The Outlier:The inscrutable politics of Subramanian Swamy". The Caravan: A Journal of Politics & Culture. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  52. ^ Zakaria, Fareed (March 5, 2006). "India Rising". Newsweek. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  53. ^ "New Growth Projections Predict the Rise of India, East Africa and Fall of Oil Economies". Harvard Kennedy School. 7 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-05-08. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  54. ^ Zhong, Raymond (1 January 2016). "India Will Be Fastest-Growing Economy for Coming Decade, Harvard Researchers Predict". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  55. ^ Silver, Laura; Huang, Christine; Clancy, Laura (9 February 2023). "Key facts as India surpasses China as the world's most populous country". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  56. ^ Khanna, Parag (2008-01-27). "Waving Goodbye to Hegemony". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  57. ^ Khanna, Parag (2008-05-18). "The Rise of Non-Americanism". New America Foundation. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  58. ^ Pritchett, Lant (2009). "A Review of Edward Luce's 'In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India'". Journal of Economic Literature. 47 (3): 771–081. doi:10.1257/jel.47.3.771.
  59. ^ "India to beat China again as fastest-growing economy in 2016: IMF". The Economic Times. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  60. ^ "India loses place as world's fastest-growing economy". BBC News. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  61. ^ Miller, Manjari Chatterjee (May–June 2013). "India's Feeble Foreign Policy". Foreign Affairs. 92 (3): 14–18. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  62. ^ Minkina, Mirosław (2019-09-30). "Russia's return to the superpower status". Security and Defence Quarterly. 26 (4): 34–50. doi:10.35467/sdq/110335. hdl:11331/2402. ISSN 2300-8741.
  63. ^ Graham-Harrison, Emma; Luhn, Alec; Walker, Shaun; Rice-Oxley, Mark; Sedghi, Amy (2015-07-07). "China and Russia: the world's new superpower axis?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  64. ^ "Q&A: The return of the Russian superpower?". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  65. ^ "A Superpower Is Reborn". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  66. ^ Steven Rosefielde (February 2005). Russia in the 21st Century. UNC Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54529-7.
  67. ^ Stephen Kinzer (11 May 2014). "Russia acts like any other superpower". Boston Globe. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  68. ^ Matthew Fleischer (12 March 2014). "How curbing climate change can prevent Russia from becoming a superpower". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  69. ^ Fred Weir (3 November 2011). "Despite huge cash bonuses to mothers, Russia's population is shrinking". GlobalPost. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  70. ^ Niall Ferguson (12 December 2011). "In Decline, Putin's Russia Is On Its Way to Global Irrelevance". Newsweek. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  71. ^ Mark Adomanis (11 May 2013). "Russia's Population Isn't Shrinking (It's Growing Very, Very Slowly)". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  72. ^ Paul Krugman (28 February 2022). "Russia Is a Potemkin Superpower". New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  73. ^ Population by country on July 2017 Est. The World FactbookCentral Intelligence Agency, Retrieved 10 May 2018
  74. ^ Population in EU (28) on 1 January 2017 Eurostat
  75. ^ a b "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2021". IMF. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  76. ^ "Trends in world military expenditure-2022" (PDF). SIPRI. April 2023.
  77. ^ "Human Development Report 2019 – Technical notes" (PDF). hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. pp. 2–4. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  78. ^ "European defence spending hit new high in 2019". eda.europa.eu. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  79. ^ Smith, Dennis B. (1995), Smith, Dennis B. (ed.), "The Emergence of the Economic Superpower: 1980 to the Present", Japan since 1945: The Rise of an Economic Superpower, London: Macmillan Education UK, pp. 138–169, doi:10.1007/978-1-349-24126-2_6, ISBN 978-1-349-24126-2, retrieved 2024-07-10
  80. ^ a b "Japan From Superrich To Superpower". Time. July 4, 1988.
  81. ^ Kreisberg, Paul (1988-12-11). "Japan: A Superpower Minus Military Power". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  82. ^ Zakaria, Fareed (2008). The Post-American World. W. W. Norton and Company. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-393-06235-9.
  83. ^ "Land of the setting sun". The Economist. November 12, 2009.
  84. ^ Leika Kihara (17 August 2012). "Japan eyes end to decades long deflation". Reuters. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  85. ^ "Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past". 2023-01-20. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
[edit]