Foremost power

The term foremost power has been used by political scientists and historians to describe the allegedly greatest power in the world, or in a given region, during a certain period of history. Multiple empires have been described as such, often for the same time period, resulting in a problematic assessment of the conflicting scholarly opinions and points of view on the matter. There is therefore a general lack of consensus between the various authors and scholars in reference to the nations and empires that were allegedly the world's most powerful at various points in history.^[1][2]

The status of foremost power globally implies that of superpower.^{[disputed – discuss]} However, it does not necessarily mean that the world is unipolar nor that there is a sole superpower. Currently, the United States is no longer an uncontested superpower, partly due to not dominating in every single domain (i.e. military, culture, economy, technology, diplomatic) in every part of the world. Although it is still the most powerful military and has the largest economy by nominal GDP (although China has surpassed the United States in GDP purchasing power parity, and could surpass the United States nominal GDP in the coming decades^[3][4][5]), China has made significant gains in cultural influence and technology.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]} The United States became the world's foremost power at the end of the Second World War, as the Soviet Union was a power of comparable influence, but lagged far behind the United States in economy and wealth. The United States remained the world's foremost power until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, at which point it became the world's sole superpower. Opinions differ on when China's rise changed the United States' position from an uncontested sole superpower to a contested one. However, most agree that this happened sometime in the late 2000s or early 2010s post-Great Recession. While China's rise decreases the power gap between them and the United States, the United States is forecasted to remain the world's foremost power for the next couple of decades.

According to the Asia Power Index 2023, the United States still takes the lead on the military capacity, cultural influence, resilience, defense networks, economic resources, and future resources but lags behind China in the two parameters of economic relationships and diplomatic influence across eight measures in Asia. However, the United States remains ahead of China in each of these categories on a global scale.^[14] The term "potential superpowers" describes polities that could rival American primacy in the future.^{[15][16][17][11]}

History

The label of foremost power has been given to different empires that even co-existed at their peak. This can be explained by the fact that different scholars work on different sources and have different perspectives on what makes an empire the world's most powerful. For the first century, the term has been applied to the Roman Empire, which governed much of the ancient world for over five centuries, giving the city of Rome the nickname of Caput Mundi (Head of the world).^[18][19]

Giovanni Botero, one of the first scholars of international relations, identified the Papacy, head of the Roman Catholic church, as the foremost power of the Renaissance and Counter-Reformation era.^[20]

In reference to the 16th and 17th centuries, when globalization emerged, the term has been applied to a variety of states including: the empires of Portugal, Spain, and their Iberian Union, and later that of the Netherlands, which all ventured out from Europe to establish colonies in the Americas, Africa and Asia; the Austrian Habsburgs in Europe; the Ottomans, Mughals and Safavids in the Middle East and Central Asia; and the Ming dynasty in the Far East.^[21][22][23]

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Britain emerged as a foremost power, driven by its vast colonial empire and industrial prowess. Its naval supremacy, exemplified by the Royal Navy, ensured control over crucial trade routes and maritime dominance.^[24][25]

During the Cold War, the term has been applied to both the United States and the Soviet Union. The concept of superpower, developed in order to describe these two nations and (earlier) the British Empire, became more common than that of foremost power largely because it was not possible to identity a single hegemonic force in global affairs. This can be considered true for most of history as well.

See also

• Superpower
• Great power
• Middle power
• Small power

References

1. A Political History of the World^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. Münkler, Herfried (11 June 2007). Empires: The Logic of World Domination from Ancient Rome to the United States. Polity. ISBN 9780745638713.
3. "China GDP to top US, but not until around 2035, Goldman Sachs economists say". South China Morning Post. 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
4. Xie, Stella Yifan. "China's Economy Won't Overtake the U.S., Some Now Predict". WSJ. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
5. Saul, Derek. "China And India Will Overtake U.S. Economically By 2075, Goldman Sachs Economists Say". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
6. "Should We Compete With China? Can We?". 2019-10-14. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
7. "Asia Power Index | US". power.lowyinstitute.org. Retrieved 2020-10-20. The United States remains the most powerful country in the region but registered the largest fall in relative power of any Indo–Pacific country in 2020. A ten-point overall lead over China two years ago has been narrowed by half in 2020.
8. "Patrick Cockburn: The US has faced decline before – but nothing like what's to come". The Independent. 2020-03-27. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
9. "From Hyperpower to Declining Power". Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project. 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
10. Walt, Stephen M. "How to Ruin a Superpower". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
11. Hiro, Dilip (2016-10-11). "Think the US Is the Foremost Global Superpower? Think Again". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
12. "America's innovation edge now in peril, says Baker Institute, American Academy of Arts and Sciences report". news.rice.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-10-28. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
13. "China will overtake US in tech race". OMFIF. 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
14. Institute, Lowy. "China - Lowy Institute Asia Power Index". Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
15. Bremer, Ian (May 28, 2015). "These Are the 5 Reasons Why the U.S. Remains the World's Only Superpower". Time.
16. Kim Richard Nossal. Lonely Superpower or Unapologetic Hyperpower? Analyzing American Power in the post–Cold War Era. Biennial meeting, South African Political Studies Association, 29 June-2 July 1999. Archived from the original on 2019-05-26. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
17. From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 (Published 2008), by Professor George C. Herring (Professor of History at Kentucky University)
18. "Porque Roma se chama Caput Mundi". Retrieved 2023-08-03.
19. "Roman Empire | Definition, History, Time Period, Map, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2023-06-19. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
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22. Beller, Steven, ed. (2018), "Introduction: Austria and Modernity", The Habsburg Monarchy 1815–1918, New Approaches to European History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–24, ISBN 978-1-107-09189-4, retrieved 2024-07-05
23. Swart, Koenraad Wolter (1969). The miracle of the Dutch Republic as seen in the seventeenth century. London: H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd.
24. "British Empire | History, Countries, Map, Size, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-06-27. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
25. "The British Empire". West Indian History, Heritage and Culture. Retrieved 2024-07-05.