Potential superpowers

A potential superpower is a state or a political and economic entity that is speculated to be, or is in the process of becoming, a superpower at some point in the 21st century. Presently, only the United States fulfils the criteria to be considered a superpower. States most commonly mentioned as being potential superpowers are Brazil,   China, India, Russia  (the BRIC countries), and the European Union, based on a variety of factors. Collectively, these potential superpowers and the United States comprise 66.6% of global nominal GDP, 62.2% of global GDP (PPP) (EU alone well above 20%), more than one third of the total land area and more than 50% of the world's population.

Predictions made in the past have not been perfect. For example, in the 1980s, many political and economic analysts predicted that Japan would eventually accede to superpower status, due to its large population, huge gross domestic product and high economic growth at that time. Though still the world's third-largest economy as of 2012 in terms of nominal GDP, Japan has faced an ongoing period of weak growth since the Lost Decade of the 1990s, and has been suffering from an aging population since the early 2000s, eroding its potential as a superpower.

Brazil
The Federative Republic of Brazil is considered by a number of analysts and academics a potential superpower of the 21st century.

In a 2009 lecture entitled Brazil as an Emerging World Power, presented at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University, Leslie Elliot Armijo has said that "Brazil will soon rise as Latin America’s first superpower." Armijo states that "Brazil keeps solidifying itself as leader of its region by launching a series of integration projects," adding also that "as an international actor, Brazil has also taken a larger share of world politics by incrementing its already strong presence in economic initiatives, such as the International Finance Facility and the G20," asserting that "Brazil’s rising prominence derives from its solid democratic rule and its strong economy" and concluding that "Soon, we’ll have two superpowers in the Western Hemisphere."

Elizabeth Reavey, a research associate from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, claims in the title of her 2008 article that While the US Looks Eastward Brazil Is Emerging as a Nuclear Superpower. Describing the importance of the ongoing development of nuclear technology in the country, she calls Brazil an emerging superpower, with a "potential to have a China-like, booming economy, increased nuclear capabilities, a growing self-confidence in its own power and an ability to make its own way."

Brazil is often called an economic superpower, either present or future, and many experts and journalists compare Brazil with the other potential superpowers of the BRIC group. Jonathan Power from Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research claims in his 2006 article Brazil is Becoming an Economic and Political Superpower that "Brazil has a head start on India and China," saying that it has been positively developing for over 100 years, and adding that "between 1960 and 1980 Brazil doubled its per capita income." Power also speculates that Brazil "has a good chance of emerging as the world’s first economic superpower without nuclear weapons." The lack of declared enemies and the fact it has not engaged in any large scale conflicts since the end of the Second World War also contributed for Brazil to so far not maintaining an aggressive military force like the other great powers.

Contrary views
There are, however, numerous obstacles to Brazil reaching superpower status. According to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, recognising Brazil's current economic strength is “not the same as [saying] it will become the economic superpower [anytime soon].” Similarly, energy analyst Mark Burger writes that Brazil, in general, will improve its energy situation, but not to the point of being an energy superpower.

The much higher rate of crime in the country compared to all the other potential superpowers, stubbornly high levels of income and education inequality, social polarization, and the future of the much less developed northern regions of the country remain concerns.

In an interview, Vladimir Caramaschi, a Brazil Strategist said that "Investment is just not going to be enough to meet demand", he described that that Brazil, historically lags in investment regarding the factories, machinery and other types of fixed capitals, and it has not changed course even as it recovers faster than most of the countries from global recession. He further adds that Brazil's cost of taxes, bureaucracy, interest rates and labor laws remains the highest among G20 economies discourages investment.

China
The People's Republic of China receives continual coverage in the popular press of its potential superpower status, and has been identified as a rising or emerging economic and military superpower by academics and other experts. In fact, the "rise of China" has been named the top news story of the 21st century by the Global Language Monitor, as measured by number of appearances in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet and blogosphere, and in Social Media. The term "Second Superpower" has also been applied by scholars to the possibility that the People's Republic of China could emerge as a "second superpower," with global power and influence on par with the United States. The potential for the two countries to form stronger relations to address global issues is sometimes referred to as the Group of Two.

Barry Buzan asserted in 2004 that "China certainly presents the most promising all-round profile" of a potential superpower. Buzan claimed that "China is currently the most fashionable potential superpower and the one whose degree of alienation from the dominant international society makes it the most obvious political challenger." However, he noted this challenge is constrained by the major challenges of development and by the fact that its rise could trigger a counter coalition of states in Asia.

Parag Khanna stated in 2008 that by making massive trade and investment deals with Latin America and Africa, China had established its presence as a superpower along with the European Union and the United States. China's rise is demonstrated by its ballooning share of trade in its gross domestic product. He believed that China's "consultative style" had allowed it to develop political and economic ties with many countries including those viewed as rogue states by the United States. He stated that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization founded with Russia and the Central Asian countries may eventually be the "NATO of the East".

Economist and author of Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance Arvind Subramanian argued in 2012 that China will direct the world's financial system by 2020 and that the Chinese renminbi will replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency in 10 to 15 years. The United States' soft power will remain longer. He stated that "China was a top dog economically for thousands of years prior to the Ming Dynasty. In some ways, the past few hundred years have been an aberration."

Lawrence Saez at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, argued in 2011 that the United States will be surpassed by China as military superpower within twenty years. Regarding economic power, the Director of the China Center for Economic Reform at Peking University Yao Yang stated that "Assuming that the Chinese and U.S. economies grow, respectively, by 8% and 3% in real terms, that China's inflation rate is 3.6% and America's is 2% (the averages of the last decade), and that the renminbi appreciates against the dollar by 3% per year (the average of the last six years), China will become the world's largest economy by 2021. By that time, both countries' GDP will be about $24 trillion."

Historian Timothy Garton Ash argued in 2011, pointing to factors such as the International Monetary Fund predicting that China's GDP (purchasing power parity adjusted) will overtake that of the United States in 2016, that a power shift to a world with several superpowers was happening "Now". However, China was still lacking in soft power and power projection abilities and had a low GDP/person. The article also stated that the Pew Research Center in a 2009 survey found that people in 15 out of 22 countries believed that China had or would overtake the US as the world's leading superpower.

In an interview given in 2011, Singapore's first premier, Lee Kuan Yew, stated that while China supplanting the United States is not a forgone conclusion, Chinese leaders are nonetheless serious about displacing the United States as the most powerful country in Asia. “They have transformed a poor society by an economic miracle to become now the second-largest economy in the world. How could they not aspire to be number 1 in Asia, and in time the world?” The Chinese strategy, Lee maintains, will revolve around their “huge and increasingly highly skilled and educated workers to out-sell and out-build all others.” Nevertheless, relations with the United States, at least in the medium term, will not take a turn for the worst because China will “avoid any action that will sour up relations with the U.S. To challenge a stronger and technologically superior power like the U.S. will abort their ‘peaceful rise.'" Though Lee believes China is genuinely interested in growing within the global framework the United States has created, it is biding its time until it becomes strong enough to successfully redefine the prevailing political and economic order.

Chinese foreign policy advisor Wang Jisi in 2012 stated that many Chinese officials see China as a first-class power which should be treated as such. China is argued to soon become the world's largest economy and to be making rapid progress in many areas. The United States is seen as a declining superpower as indicated by factors such as poor economic recovery, financial disorder, high deficit and unemployment, and increasing political polarization.

Contrary views
Timothy Beardson, founder of Crosby International Holdings, stated in 2013, that he doesn't see "China becoming a superpower", he writes that China has basically worked as a manufacturing location for the foreign companies as 83% of all high-tech products that are made in China were produced for the foreign companies. He adds that China's problems regarding wages, aging, declining population, and also gender imbalance, (that with the 6:5 ratio of gender, 1 in 6 boys will not have a wife) suggest that such problems will lead to crimes. He also suggested that China continually polluted its environment after 30 years of growth (considering that 20 most polluted cities in the world included 16 cities that are in China).

James Fallows writes that too many people in China live without indoor plumbing, and that no mainland science researcher has yet won a Nobel Prize, so it is unlikely able to become an "economic Superpower". He also recalled his mid 1980s visit to China, where he found virtually everyone "poor", and that "rich" people were farmers that had their own family. He further suggests that people usually talk about how life in China is improving, yet if they go to China, they would see that Chinese officials spend too much time thinking about how to deal with the upcoming problems that their country faces.

Geoffrey Murphay's China: The Next Superpower (2008) argued that while the potential for China is high, this is fairly perceived only by looking at the risks and obstacles China faces in managing its population and resources. The political situation in China may become too fragile to survive into superpower status according to Susan Shirk in China: Fragile Superpower (2008). Other factors that could constrain China's ability to become a superpower in the future include limited supplies of energy and raw materials, questions over its innovation capability, inequality and corruption, and risks to social stability and the environment.

Minxin Pei argued in 2010 that China is not a superpower and it will not be one anytime soon and argued that China faces daunting political and economic challenges. In 2012 he argued that China, despite using economic power to influence some nations, has few real friends or allies and is surrounded by potentially hostile nations. This situation could improve if regional territorial disputes would be resolved and China would participate in an effective regional defense system that would reduce the fears of its neighbors. Alternatively, a democratization of China would dramatically improve foreign relations with many nations.

Amy Chua stated in 2007 that whether a country has enough pull to bring immigrants is an important quality for a superpower. She also wrote that China lacks the pull to bring scientists, thinkers, and innovators from other countries as immigrants. However, she believed that China made up for this with its own diaspora, and said that size and resources for them are unparalleled.

European Union
The European Union (EU) has been called an emerging superpower by academics. Many scholars and academics like T.R. Reid, Andrew Reding, Andrew Moravcsik, Mark Leonard, Jeremy Rifkin, John McCormick, and some politicians like Romano Prodi and Tony Blair either believe that the EU is, or will become, a superpower in the 21st century.

Mark Leonard cites several factors: the EU's large population, large economy (the EU has the largest economy in the world), low inflation rates, the unpopularity and perceived failure of US foreign policy in recent years, and certain EU member states' high quality of life (especially when measured in terms such as hours worked per week, health care, social services).

John McCormick believes that the EU has already achieved superpower status, based on the size and global reach of its economy and on its global political influence. He argues that the nature of power has changed since the Cold War-driven definition of superpower was developed, and that military power is no longer essential to great power; he argues that control of the means of production is more important than control of the means of destruction, and contrasts the threatening hard power of the United States with the opportunities offered by the soft power wielded by the European Union.

Parag Khanna believes that the EU, together with China, has already achieved superpower status and rivals the US for influence around the world. He also mentions the large economy of the EU, that European technologies more and more set the global standards and that European countries give the most development assistance. He agrees with McCormick that the EU does not need a common army to be a superpower. The EU uses intelligence and the police to apprehend radical Islamists, social policy to try to integrate restive Muslim populations and economic strength to incorporate the former Soviet Union and gradually subdue Russia. Khanna also writes that South America, East Asia, and other regions prefer to emulate the "European Dream" than the American variant. This could possibly be seen in the African Union and UNASUR. Notably, the EU as a whole is among the most culturally diverse "entities" on the planet, with some of the world's largest and most influential languages being official within its borders.

Andrew Reding also takes the future EU enlargement into account. An eventual future accession of the rest of Europe, the whole of Russia, and Turkey, would not only boost the economy of the EU, but it would also increase the EU's population to about 800 million, which he considers almost equal to that of India or China. The EU is qualitatively different from India and China since it is enormously more prosperous and technologically advanced. Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in 2005: "In 10 or 15 years, the EU will be a place where civilizations meet. It will be a superpower with the inclusion of Turkey."

Robert J. Guttman wrote in 2001 that the very definition of the term superpower has changed and in the 21st century, it does not only refer to states with military power, but also to groups such as the European Union, with strong market economics, young, highly educated workers savvy in high technology, and a global vision. Friis Arne Petersen, the Danish ambassador to the US, has expressed similar views. He conceded that the EU is a “special kind of superpower,” one that has yet to establish a unified military force that exerts itself even close to the same level as many of its individual members.

Additionally, it is argued by commentators that full political integration is not required for the European Union to wield international influence: that its apparent weaknesses constitute its real strengths (as of its low profile diplomacy and the emphasis on the rule of law) and that the EU represents a new and potentially more successful type of international actor than traditional ones; however, it is uncertain if the effectiveness of such an influence would be equal to that of a more politically integrated union of states such as the United States.

Barry Buzan notes that the EU's potential superpower status depends on its "stateness". It is unclear though how much state-like quality is needed for the EU to be described as a superpower. Buzan states that the EU is likely to remain a potential superpower for a long time because although it has material wealth, its "political weakness and its erratic and difficult course of internal political development, particularly as regards a common foreign and defence policy" constrains it from being a superpower.

Alexander Stubb, the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs, has said that he thinks the EU is both a superpower and not a superpower. While the EU is a superpower in the sense that it is the largest political union, single market and aid donor in the world, it is not a superpower in the defense or foreign policy spheres. Like Barry Buzan, Alexander Stubb thinks that the most major factor constraining the EU’s rise to superpower status is its lack of statehood in the international system, other factors are its lack of internal drive to project power worldwide, and continued preference for the sovereign nation-state amongst some Europeans. To counterbalance these, he urged the EU leaders to approve and ratify the Lisbon Treaty (which they did in 2009), create an EU foreign ministry (EEAS, led by High Representative Catherine Ashton, will be finished in 2012), develop a common EU defense, hold one collective seat at the UN Security Council and G8, and address what he described as the “sour mood” toward the EU prevalent in some European countries today.

Contrary views
Some do not believe that the EU will achieve superpower status. "The EU is not and never will be a superpower" according to the former UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband. Lacking a unified foreign policy and with an inability to project military power worldwide, the EU lacks "the substance of superpowers," who by definition have "first of all military reach [and] possess the capacity to arrive quickly anywhere with troops that can impose their government's will.". EU parliamentarian Ilka Schroeder argues that conflicts such as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute see close EU involvement largely to compensate for European inability to project military power internationally.

The Economist's Robert Lane Greene notes that the lack of a strong European military only exacerbates the lack of unified EU foreign policy and discounts any EU arguments towards superpower status, noting especially that the EU's creation of a global response force rivaling the superpower's (United States of America) is "unthinkable." The biggest barrier to European superpowerdom is that European elites refuse to bring their postmodern fantasies about the illegitimacy of military "hard power" into line with the way the rest of the world interprets reality" according to Soren Kern of Strategic Studies Group.

Britain's Michael Howard has warned against the "worry" that many Europeans are pushing for greater EU integration to counterbalance the United States, while Europe's total reliance on soft (non-military) power is in part because of its lack of a "shared identity." While to some the European Union should be a "model power" unafraid of using military force and backing free trade, its military shortcomings argue against superpower status.

India
Several media publications and academics have discussed the Republic of India's potential of becoming a superpower. Newsweek and the International Herald Tribune join several academics in discussing India's potential of becoming a superpower.

US Intelligence report, from 2012, says that India will become superpower by 2030, it writes that "India's rate of economic growth is likely to rise while China's slows," According to the report, World Bank suggests that China and India will be "emerging economy growth pole" by 2025. Report further adds that the total size of the Chinese working-age population will peak in 2016 but decline in later years, while with India it won't be the same factor.

Anil Gupta is almost certain that India will become a superpower in the 21st century. As an example, he states that due to India's functional institutions of democracy and its relatively corruption-free society, it will emerge as a desirable, entrepreneurial and resource and energy-efficient superpower in the near future. He predicts that by 2015 India will overtake China to be the fastest growing economy in the world and emerge as a full-fledged economic superpower by 2025. In addition to that, he states, India has the potential to serve as a leading example of how to combine rapid economic growth with fairness towards and inclusion of those at the bottom rungs of the ladder and of efficient resource utilization, especially in energy.

Robyn Meredith claims that both India and China will be superpowers. Although, she points out that the average income of European and Americans are better off than Chinese and Indians, and hundreds of millions Chinese as well as Indians lives in poverty, however she also suggested that economic growth of these nations has been most important factor in reducing global poverty of last 2 decades as per World Bank report. Amy Chua also adds to this, stating that while India's potential for superpower is great, it still faces many problems such as "pervasive rural poverty, entrenched corruption, and high inequality just to name a few". However, she notes that India has made tremendous strides to fix this, stating that some of India's achievements, such as working to dismantle the centuries-old caste system and maintaining the world's largest diverse democracy is historically unprecedented.

Fareed Zakaria also believes that India has a fine chance at becoming a superpower, pointing out that India's young population coupled with the second largest English-speaking population in the world could give India an advantage over China. He also believes that while other industrial countries will face a youth gap, India will have lots of young people, or in other words, workers, and by 2050, it's per capita income will rise twenty times than it's current level. According to Zakaria, another strength that India has is that its democratic government has lasted for 60 years, stating that a democracy can provide for long-term stability, that has given India a name "

Founder and President of the Economic Strategy Institute and former counselor to the Secretary of Commerce in the Reagan Administration Clyde V. Prestowitz Jr. has predicted that "It is going to be India's century. India is going to be the biggest economy in the world. It is going to be the biggest superpower of the 21st century."

Contrary views
Parag Khanna writes in 2008, he believes that India is not, nor will it become a superpower for the foreseeable future, lagging decades behind China in both development and strategic appetite. Instead, he believes India will be a key swing state along with Russia. He says that India is "big but not important", has a highly successful professional class, while millions of its citizens still live in poverty. He also writes that it matters that China borders a dozen more countries than India and is not hemmed in by a vast ocean and the world's tallest mountains. However in a recent article written by Parag Khanna, he says that India, along with China will grow ever stronger, while other powers, like Europe, muddle along.

Lant Pritchett, reviewing the book In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India, writes that, while India has had impressive growth and has some world class institutions, several other indicators are puzzlingly poor. The malnutrition in India and the coverage of immunization programs are at levels similar or worse than in much sub-Saharan African nations. In the Demographic and Health Surveys India's child malnutrition was the worst of the 42 nations with comparable and recent data. Adult literacy is 61%. In one study 26% of teachers were absent from work and 1/3 of those showing up did not teach. 40% of health care workers were absent from work. Caste politics in India remains an important force. Pritchett argues that a very large population, a very long statistical "tail" of high quality students, and some very good higher education institutions gives a misleading impression of Indian education. Indian students placed forty-first and thirty-seventh in a study comparing students in the two Indian states Orissa and Rajasthan to the forty-six nations in the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.

Manjari Chatterjee Miller, assistant professor of international relations at Boston University, argues that India is a "would-be" great power but "resists its own rise." Three factors contribute to this stagnation, she argues. First, New Delhi's foreign policy decisions are highly individualistic. "This autonomy, in turn, means that New Delhi does very little collective thinking about its long-term foreign policy goals, since most of the strategic planning that takes place within the government happens on an individual level." Second, a dearth of think tanks helps insulate Indian foreign policymakers from outside influences. "U.S. foreign policymakers, by contrast, can expect strategic guidance from a broad spectrum of organizations that supplement the long-term planning that happens within the government itself." Third, many of India's political elites believe that the country's inevitable rise is a Western construct that has placed unrealistic expectations on India's economic growth forecasts and its international commitments. By contrast, Miller notes that Chinese political leaders pay very close attention to the international hype surrounding their country's growing stature. Miller concludes that "India's inability to develop top-down, long-term strategies means that it cannot systematically consider the implications of its growing power. So long as this remains the case, the country will not play the role in global affairs that many expect."

Russian Federation
The Russian Federation has been suggested by some as a potential candidate for resuming superpower status in the 21st century.

According to economist Steven Rosefielde of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Russia intends to "reemerge as a full-fledged superpower," and "contrary to conventional wisdom, this goal is easily within the Kremlin's grasp, but the cost to the Russian people and global security would be immense." Rosefielde further argues that Russia "has an intact military-industrial complex...and the mineral wealth to reactivate its dormant structurally militarized potential," and that "supply-side constraints don't preclude a return to prodigal superpowerdom".

Military analyst Alexander Golts of The St. Petersburg Times argues that President Vladimir Putin's confrontations with the U.S. on nuclear issues are in pursuit of regaining superpower status for Russia. It has been argued that Russia's foreign policy toward bordering countries is designed with the ultimate goal of regaining superpower status. Mike Ritchie of industry analysts Energy Intelligence says "Russia was always a superpower that used its energy to win friends and influence among its former Soviet satellites. Nothing has really changed much. They are back in the same game, winning friends and influencing people and using their power to do so."

Matthew Chance in an interview with CNN, he states that Russia may return as superpower, adding that in Russia people enjoy a lot more freedom and prosperity than they did 15 years ago. Although he also suggested that unemployment has been increased and industrial output plunge has become an issue for Russians regarding there future, but at this moment it's not a huge matter.

Contrary views
Peter Brown writes that Russia won't be superpower anytime soon, as the population of Russia has been shrinking, and more people are dying than they are taking birth due to the poverty, poor public health. Niall Ferguson has also pointed the declining population, and suggests that Russia is on its way to "global irrelevance".

Vladimir Radyuhin, writing in The Hindu, states that the political and economic systems of Russia are driving away the highly qualified and entrepreneurs with the population only stabilized by the immigration of unskilled laborers from other former Soviet States. Russia's population has also been shrinking since the collapse of the Soviet Union, whilst the country also shows signs of having an aging population, points that Fred Weir believe constricts Russia's potential to re-emerge as a central world power.