World Rankings - Research Paper Example

World Rankings Superpower s can be defined as countries with the dominant ability in the international system, and the capability to influence the concurrent events and the countries own interests and projects that touches on a range of factors in order to protect those interests. A Superpower can also be described as a country that has the capacity to project the dominating power and the influence to other countries. This may lead the world to attain the status of the global hegemony. This term came first into effect in the year 1944 to the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America.

This was due to the World War 2 from the year 1939 to the year 1945. What followed in the British Empire are the change of its colonies to attain independence and a consequent change to common wealth countries from colonies. The United States and the Soviet Union remained as the only superpowers in existence. However, there developed a period commonly known as the cold war era where by the United States and the Soviet Union differed in terms of policies. The United States supported the capitalist economies whereas the Soviet Union supported the communist economies (Socijalisticki & Jugoslavije, 2011.) In order to be considered a superpower nation, several aspects have to be taken into consideration.

However, there are no distinctive aspects but mostly what is considered as a superpower is the countries dominance in military, economic, political, and cultural aspects. In addition, several factors such as geographical coverage of a nation and the demographic distribution are also considered. In most cases, the US is seen as the only remaining superpower. This is because the country has a strong capitalistic federation also known as a constitutional republic. The country also reserves a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council plus two allies with permanent seats.

The country also enjoys a strong backing from western European countries, Latin America, Commonwealth of Nations, and several East Asian countries. On the geographical coverage, the US is the third largest country in the world. This also gives the country a huge population that provides the work force for the country’s development. In addition, the country also has a strong culture on the constitution, whereby it grants its citizens the freedom of speech, and the freedom of press unlike the Soviet Union, which is not so generous with these rights (Kaufman, 1976).

Another major factor considered is the country’s ability to defend itself. The US and the USSR until now, have the largest military personnel and armament contracts in addition to military weapons. On the economic front, the countries with largest economies also contribute a lot to the economic policies that are set for other countries to follow. Until now, the US has the largest economy by GDP closely followed by the emerging economy superpower of China (Brainard, 2009). Using the above methods, I have developed a list of the top three political superpower states in the 19th century.

I have also ranked them depending with the hierarchy of the most powerful to the least powerful. During the 19th century, the British Empire was considered the most powerful nation in existence. This was because of the country’s powerful economic policies as well as the country’s ability to colonize many nations. These colonies provided a lot of wealth to the British Empire, which empowered the country as well. The colonies also provided a source of military power to support the British Empire.

An example is the first and the Second World War whereby the colonial solders were used as sources of military power against opposing countries. The second powerful nation was France, which had colonized most nations in West Africa, the Mediterranean region and the pacific states of Latin America. Similar to the British Empire, the French colonies provided a lot of wealth to France, which it used to develop its economy as well as military prowess. Lastly, the US was also a powerful state and a superpower.

Due to its large size, the country had the highest economy in the continents of America. It also had a huge work force that had been provided by the slaves from Africa. They would be used in industries where they provided cheap labor resulting to benefits for their colonial masters and tax for the country (Gallaher & Gilmartin, 2009). By the end of the 21st century, the superpower countries will have taken a new direction. This is because of the quickly developing nations, which also have a strong economic and military position.

Such countries as China, Brazil, Russia, and India will have attained the status of superpowers while big economies such as the US and Japan will have stagnated (Gallaher & Gilmartin, 2009). References Brainard, L. (2009). Brazil as an Economic Superpower? Understanding Brazil's Changing Role in the Global Economy. Boston: Brookings Institution Press. Gallaher, C. & Gil-martin, M. (2009). Key Concepts in Political Geography. New York: SAGE Publications Ltd. Kaufman, E. (1976). The Superpowers and Their Spheres of Influence: The United States and the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe and Latin America.

New York: Taylor & Francis. Socijalisticki S. & Jugoslavije, S. (2011). Review of international affairs, Volumes 43-44. New York: Federation of Yugoslav Journalists.