Super Powers

Superpower

A superpower is a state with a leading position in the international system and the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests; it is traditionally considered to be one step higher than a great power.

Alice Lyman Miller (Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School), defines a superpower as "a country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time, and so may plausibly attain the status of global hegemon.""stanford">

It was a term first applied in 1944 to the United States , the Soviet Union, and the British Empire. Following World War II, as the British Empire transformed itself into the Commonwealth and its territories became independent, the Soviet Union and the United States generally came to be regarded as the only two superpowers, and confronted each other in the Cold War.

After the Cold War, the most common belief held that only the United States fulfilled the criteria to be considered a superpower,"Paper for presentation at the biennial meetings of the South African Political Studies Association Saldanha, Western Cape 29 June-2 July 1999"> although it is a matter of debate whether it is a hegemon or if it is a besieged global power."uiuc-superpower">Unger J (2008), University of Illinois China, the European Union, India, Brazil and RussiaCNN 2008 interview with US Senators Carl Levin & John Cornyn (Russia a superpower)New York Times by Ronald Steel professor of international relations August 24, 2008 (Superpower Reborn)Voice of America News editor by Robert Berger Feb. 15, 2010 cite Netanyahu calls Russia an important SuperpowerPremier.gov.ru - Feb. 16, 2010 cite Transcript: Russia a Superpower in every AspectISRIA.com; Feb. 16, 2010; cite "Netanyahu: Russia is an important "superpower" are also thought to have the potential of achievi read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower