Editing Superpower (section)

== Origin ==
[[File:Superpower map 1945.png|thumb|upright 1.3|A world map in 1945. According to [[William T. R. Fox]], the United States (blue), the [[Soviet Union]] (red), and the [[British Empire]] ([[teal]]) were superpowers.]]
[[File:Yalta Conference 1945 Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt (cropped 4-3).jpg|thumb|Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]], President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary]] [[Joseph Stalin]], meeting at the [[Yalta Conference]] in [[Crimea]] in February 1945, near the end of [[World War II]]]]
No agreed definition of what a superpower is exists and may differ between sources.<ref name="Nossal" /> However, a fundamental characteristic that is consistent with all definitions of a superpower is a nation or state that has mastered the seven dimensions of state power, namely geography, population, economy, [[resources]], military, diplomacy, and [[national identity]].<ref>Paul Kennedy (1987), ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers]]''</ref>

The term was first used to describe nations with greater than [[great power]] status as early as 1944, but only gained its specific meaning with regard to the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] after [[World War II]]. This was because the United States and the Soviet Union had proved themselves to be capable of casting great influence in global politics and military dominance. The term in its current political meaning was coined by Dutch-American [[geostrategist]] [[Nicholas Spykman]] in a series of lectures in 1943 about the potential shape of a new post-war world order. This formed the foundation for the book ''The Geography of the Peace'', which referred primarily to the unmatched maritime global supremacy of the British Empire and the United States as essential for peace and prosperity in the world.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

A year later, [[William T. R. Fox]], an American foreign policy professor, elaborated on the concept in the book ''The Superpowers: The United States, Britain and the Soviet Union – Their Responsibility for Peace'' which spoke of the global reach of a super-empowered nation.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |last=Dellios |first=Rosita |url=http://www.casaasia.es/pdf/9200595422AM1127202862621.pdf |title=China: The 21st Century Superpower? |website=Casa Asia |access-date=2010-08-27}}</ref> Fox used the word superpower 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, at that moment, there were three states that were superpowers, namely the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. The [[British Empire]] was the most [[List of largest empires|extensive empire]] in world history and considered the foremost great power, holding sway over 25% of the world's population<ref>{{cite book |first=Angus |last=Maddison |title=The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective |pages=98, 242 |publisher=[[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]] |location=Paris |date=2001}}</ref> and controlling about 25% of the Earth's total land area, while the United States and the Soviet Union grew in power before and during World War II. The UK would face serious political, financial, and colonial issues after World War II that left it unable to match Soviet or American power. Ultimately, Britain's empire would gradually dissolve over the course of the 20th century, sharply reducing its global power projection.

According to Lyman Miller, "[t]he basic components of superpower stature may be measured along four axes of power: military, economic, political, and cultural (or what political scientist [[Joseph Nye]] has termed '[[soft power]]')".<ref name="stanford">{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Lyman |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/sjir/6.1.03_miller.html |title=www.stanford.edu |publisher=stanford.edu |access-date=2010-08-27 |archive-date=2014-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511131303/http://www.stanford.edu/group/sjir/6.1.03_miller.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the opinion of [[Kim Richard Nossal]] of [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in Canada, "generally, this term was used to signify a political community that occupied a continental-sized landmass; had a sizable population (relative at least to other major powers); a superordinate economic capacity, including ample indigenous supplies of food and natural resources; enjoyed a high degree of non-dependence on international intercourse; and, most importantly, had a well-developed nuclear capacity (eventually, normally defined as [[second strike]] capability)".<ref name="Nossal" />

In the opinion of Professor [[Paul Dukes (historian)|Paul Dukes]], "a superpower must be able to conduct a global strategy, including the possibility of destroying the world; to command vast economic potential and influence; and to present a universal ideology", although "many modifications may be made to this basic definition".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://abe.etailer.dpsl.net/Home/html/moreinfo.asp?bookid=536885601 |title=The Superpowers – A Short History |date=8 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208142349/http://abe.etailer.dpsl.net/Home/html/moreinfo.asp?bookid=536885601 |archive-date=8 December 2008}}</ref> According to Professor June Teufel Dreyer, "[a] superpower must be able to project its power, soft and hard, globally".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.fpri.org/docs/media/FN1205-Ch-dreyer.pdf |title=Chinese Foreign Policy |first=June Teufel |last=Dreyer |magazine=Footnotes |volume=12 |issue=5 |date=February 2007 |publisher=Foreign Policy Research Institute |access-date=2015-05-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930071731/https://www.fpri.org/docs/media/FN1205-Ch-dreyer.pdf|archive-date=2023-09-30}}</ref> In his book ''[[Superpower: Three Choices for America's Role in the World]]'', Dr. [[Ian Bremmer]], president of the [[Eurasia Group]], argues that a superpower is "a country that can exert enough military, political, and economic power to persuade nations in every region of the world to take important actions they would not otherwise take".<ref>{{cite book |last=Bremmer |first=Ian |year=2015 |url=http://www.ianbremmer.com/book/superpower-three-choices-america%E2%80%99s-role-world |title=Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429014943/http://www.ianbremmer.com/book/superpower-three-choices-america%E2%80%99s-role-world |archive-date=29 April 2018 |publisher=Portfolio (Penguin Group) |location=New York |isbn=978-1591847472}}</ref>

Apart from its common denotation of the foremost post-WWII states, the term ''superpower'' has colloquially been applied by some authors retrospectively to describe various preeminent [[List of ancient great powers|ancient great empires]] or [[List of medieval great powers|medieval great powers]], in works such as [[Channel 5 (UK)]]'s documentary ''[[Rome: The World's First Superpower]]'' or the reference in ''[[The New Cambridge Medieval History]]'' to "the other superpower, [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian Persia]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cambridge |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |volume=1: c.500 – c.700 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcmwuoTsKO0C&pg=PA323 |page=323 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1995 |isbn=9780521362917 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>