Superpower

Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to exert influence and project power on a global scale.^[1][2][3] This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political, and cultural strength as well as diplomatic and soft power influence. Traditionally, superpowers are preeminent among the great powers. While a great power state is capable of exerting its influence globally, superpowers are states so influential that no significant action can be taken by the global community without first considering the positions of the superpowers on the issue.^[4]

In 1944, during World War II, the term was first applied to the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States.^[5] During the Cold War, the British Empire dissolved, leaving the United States and the Soviet Union to dominate world affairs. At the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States became the world's sole superpower,^[6][7] a position sometimes referred to as that of a "hyperpower".^[8] Since the late 2010s and into the 2020s, China has increasingly been described as an emerging superpower^[9][10] or even an established one,^[11][12][13] as China represents the "biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century" to the United States, as it is "the only country with enough power to jeopardize the current global order".^[14]