Editing Superpower (section)

== After the Cold War ==
{{see also|Second Cold War}}
[[File:American bases worldwide.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Countries with military bases and facilities of the present sole superpower – the United States]]
[[File:NYSE127.jpg|thumb|The [[New York Stock Exchange]] trading floor. [[Economic power]] such as a large [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|nominal GDP]] and a world [[reserve currency]] are important factors in the projection of [[hard power]].]]
After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991 which ended the [[Cold War]], the [[Post–Cold War era|post–Cold War]] world has in the past been considered by some to be a [[Unipolarity|unipolar]] world,<ref name="Krauthammer1">Charles Krauthammer, [https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1991-02-01/unipolar-moment The Unipolar Moment], ''Foreign Policy Magazine'' (1991).</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gaikoforum.com/P03_19_122.pdf |title=www.gaikoforum.com |access-date=2010-08-27}}</ref> with the United States as the world's sole remaining superpower.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1217752.stm Country profile: United States of America], BBC News. Retrieved 11 March 2007.</ref> In 1999, political scientist and author [[Samuel P. Huntington]] wrote: "The United States, of course, is the sole state with preeminence in every domain of power – economic, military, diplomatic, ideological, technological, and cultural – with the reach and capabilities to promote its interests in virtually every part of the world". However, Huntington rejected the claim that the world was unipolar, arguing: "There is now only one superpower. But that does not mean that the world is unipolar", describing it instead as "a strange hybrid, a uni-multipolar system with one superpower and several major powers". He further wrote that "Washington is blind to the fact that it no longer enjoys the dominance it had at the end of the Cold War. It must relearn the game of international politics as a major power, not a superpower, and make compromises".<ref name="affairs">{{cite web|url=http://www-stage.foreignaffairs.org/19990301faessay966/samuel-p-huntington/the-lonely-superpower.html|title=The Lonely Superpower|work=Foreign Affairs|first=Samuel P.|last=Huntington|date=27 April 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427150630/http://www-stage.foreignaffairs.org/19990301faessay966/samuel-p-huntington/the-lonely-superpower.html|archive-date=27 April 2006}}</ref>

Experts argue that this older single-superpower assessment of [[global politics]] is too simplified, in part because of the difficulty in classifying the European Union at its current stage of development. Others argue that the notion of a superpower is outdated, considering complex global economic interdependencies and propose that the world is [[Polarity (international relations)#Multipolarity|multipolar]].<ref name="The Global list (No superpower)">{{cite web|url=http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/printStoryId.aspx?StoryId=3553|title=The Multipolar World Vs. The Superpower|work=The Globalist|first=Sherle|last=Schwenninger|date=5 December 2003|access-date=2006-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613215234/http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/printStoryId.aspx?StoryId=3553 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=2006-06-13}}</ref><ref name="Washington Post (No superpower)">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/03/AR2006030302055.html|title=The Multipolar Unilateralist|access-date=2006-06-10 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=5 March 2006 |first=David |last=Von Drehle}}</ref><ref name="Globalpolicy.org (No superpower)">{{cite web|url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/challenges/competitors/2005/0315chinapower.htm|title=No Longer the "Lone" Superpower|access-date=2006-06-11}}</ref><ref name="A Times (No superpower)">{{cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED05Ak01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030406200825/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED05Ak01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=6 April 2003|title=The war that may end the age of superpower |work=Asia Times|author=Henry C K Liu|date=5 April 2003|access-date=2006-06-11}}</ref>

A 2012 report by the [[National Intelligence Council]] predicted that the United States superpower status will have eroded to merely being first among equals by 2030, but that it would remain highest among the world's most powerful countries because of its influence in many different fields and global connections that the great regional powers of the time would not match.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Additionally, some experts have suggested the possibility of the United States losing its superpower status completely in the future, citing speculation of its decline in power relative to the rest of the world, economic hardships, a declining dollar, Cold War allies becoming less dependent on the United States, and the emergence of future powers around the world.<ref name="uiuc-superpower">Unger J (2008), [http://news.illinois.edu/news/08/0508superpower.html U.S. no longer superpower, now a besieged global power, scholars say] ''[[University of Illinois]]''</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Almond |first=Steve |url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/22/american_decline |title=Seizing American supremacy |work=Salon.com |date=22 August 2007 |access-date=2010-08-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Leonardo |last=Martinez-Diaz |url=http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2007/0428us_economics_martinez-diaz.aspx |title=U.S.: A Losing Superpower? |publisher=Brookings.edu |date=28 April 2007 |access-date=2010-08-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602232730/http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2007/0428us_economics_martinez-diaz.aspx |archive-date=2010-06-02}}</ref>

According to a [[RAND Corporation]] paper by American diplomat [[James Dobbins (diplomat)|James Dobbins]], Professor Howard J. Shatz, and policy analyst Ali Wyne, Russia in the breakdown of a disintegrating unipolar world order, while not a peer competitor to the United States, would still remain a player and a potential [[rogue state]] that would undermine global affairs. The West could [[Containment|contain]] Russia with methods like those employed during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, though this would be tested by Russia's overt and covert efforts to destabilize Western alliances and political systems. On the other hand, China is a peer competitor to the United States that cannot be contained, and will be a far more challenging entity for the West to confront. The authors state that China's military dominance in the Asia-Pacific is already eroding American influence at a rapid pace, and the costs for the US to defend its interests there will continue to rise. Moreover, China's economic influence has already broken out of its regional confines long ago and is on track to directly contest the US role as the center for economic trade and commerce.<ref name="RAND Corporation-October-2018">{{Cite report|author1=Dobbins, James |author2=Shatz, Howard |author3=Wyne, Ali |title=Russia Is a Rogue, Not a Peer; China Is a Peer, Not a Rogue: Different Challenges, Different Responses|url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE310.html|publisher=[[RAND Corporation]]|date=2018}}</ref><ref name="Sage Journals-January-16-2018">{{Cite journal|author1=Maher, Paul J |author2=Igou, Eric R |author3=van Tilburg, Wijnand A.P. |title=Brexit, Trump, and the Polarizing Effect of Disillusionment|journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science|volume=9|issue=2|pages=205–213|publisher=[[Sage Journals]]|date= 16 January 2018|doi=10.1177/1948550617750737|s2cid=149195975|url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/brexit-trump-and-the-polarizing-effect-of-disillusionment(5e1bccd1-d580-461b-abe3-cbaceafd5a1d).html}}</ref><ref name="Deutsche Welle-September-18-2018">{{Cite news|author=Janjevic, Darko |title=Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban's special relationship|url=https://www.dw.com/en/vladimir-putin-and-viktor-orbans-special-relationship/a-45512712|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]|date= 18 September 2018}}</ref><ref name="The Conversation-March-22-2019">{{Cite news|author=King, Winnie |title=Italy joins China's Belt and Road Initiative – here's how it exposes cracks in Europe and the G7|url=https://theconversation.com/italy-joins-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-heres-how-it-exposes-cracks-in-europe-and-the-g7-114039|publisher=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|date= 22 March 2019}}</ref>