Per Wikipedia: A powerful and influential nation, especially a nuclear power that dominates its allies or client states in an international power bloc.
Superpowers became the name given to the Great Powers under the Cold War context; differentiating the bipolar situation from the previous multi-polar world... The enormous gap in military and economic power between the United States and other individual countries prompts some analysts to label the United States as a hyperpower. Because of the huge concentration of power in one state, some analysts have occasionally drawn analogy to a Pax Americana, with the United States as the guarantor of world peace and a mediator in disputes between other states. This is a direct reference to the Pax Britannica and the Pax Romana of the past, when Great Britain and the Roman Empire, respectively, were dominant powers deeply involved in the security of surrounding nations. This view is not universally held, nor easily defined.
Others have a more negative view of the United States and see it not as a guarantor of peace but as an imperialist power imposing its will on other states.Edit Highlight
Potential superpowers - Countries which some analysts predict could achieve superpower status in the coming decades:
· Brazil, which has a large population, and the capacity to go nuclear.
· China, which has limited nuclear capabilities, a large but mostly obsolete military, the world's largest population, and a large and growing economy (2nd largest in PPP, but only 1/7th the size of the United States' economy at market values).
· The European Union, if counted as a single unit would have the largest economy in the world. Also the European Union obtains nuclear capabilities via France and the United Kingdom, but is still too politically and militarily fragmented to be considered a single power.
· India, which has a population of over a billion, a small nuclear arsenal, as well as a thriving economy (4th largest in PPP).
· Japan, which has one of the world's most powerful economies and has increased military funding in recent years.
· Russia, the most powerful of the countries of the former Soviet Union, maintains the largest nuclear stockpile in the world and possesses a huge conventional arsenal, a large economy, and a plentiful supply of natural resources.
· Worldwide public opinion has been described by the media as a Second Superpower
It seems that the new global scenario may be multi-polar. And wow, the Physics Forum may become a Second Superpower!
dextercioby said:
An (hypothetical) economical collapse of the US would have massive impact
Here's the real shift in paradigm...?
