superpower, a state that possesses military or economic might, or both, and general influence vastly superior to that of other states. Scholars generally agree on which state is the foremost or unique superpower—for instance, the United Kingdom during the Victorian era and the United States during and immediately after World War II—but often disagree on the criteria that distinguish a superpower from other major powers and, accordingly, on which other states if any should be called superpowers.
A superpower is a state that cannot be ignored on the world stage and without whose cooperation no world problem can be solved. During the Cold War, for instance, the United States could not intervene in world affairs without taking into account the position of the U.S.S.R., and vice versa. The fact that both of these states had superpower status, however, did not make them equal. Indeed the United States was more powerful than the U.S.S.R., according to most criteria (military, economic, etc.). If the U.S.S.R. could be considered a superpower despite its rival’s edge, it is because, in the words of John Mearsheimer, it could “put up a real fight” and pose a significant challenge to U.S. global dominance.
The possession of highly superior military capabilities is generally considered to be the most important element in distinguishing a superpower such as the United States from a major power such as France or the United Kingdom. A robust nuclear deterrence and the capacity to project military power anywhere in the world are key components of this. A superpower also draws its power from a superior economy, as well as the capacity to influence other states and international institutions (soft power). Superpowers conceive of their own interests in global terms and directly shape world events. While the term superpower is most often used to describe a state whose overall power is preeminent, it is sometimes used more restrictively to designate a state whose power is preeminent in one specific area (e.g., a military superpower, an economic superpower, etc.).
According to realist scholars such as Hans Morgenthau and neorealist scholars such as Kenneth Waltz, the number of superpowers is the most determining factor in international politics. The existence of one, two, or multiple superpowers (a unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar world) determines the stability of the international order, as well as the prospects for war and peace. Because there can be more than one superpower, this concept must be distinguished from that of “hegemon,” which designates the dominance of one state over all others, in one region or in the world at large (regional hegemon, global hegemon).
The concept of superpower is a relatively recent addition to the lexicon of political science. It was first used to describe the British Empire, which, at the end of the 19th century, extended Queen Victoria’s reign over nearly one-quarter of the world’s land surface and more than one-quarter of the world’s population. However, it became commonly used as a concept only after World War II. During the Cold War, scholars generally used this concept to refer exclusively to its two main protagonists, the United States and the U.S.S.R. In the 1990s, following the end of the Cold War and the diminished power of Russia, the United States gained a position of global dominance that it had not enjoyed since the beginning of World War II. Some scholars argued that the term superpower no longer captured its unchallenged global primacy, and alternative terms such as hyperpower, global hegemon, and empire were suggested in its stead. Despite significant setbacks in its economy, military enterprises, and diplomatic influence in the first decade of the 21st century, the U.S. remained the sole state with a clear preeminence in all sources of power. The question of American decline has been a common theme in the study of international relations. With the transformation of China into an economic powerhouse, there have been continued debates on whether it can be expected not only to dominate Asia but also to compete with the United States as another global superpower.