Great power#Current great powers

There are no set or defined characteristics of a great power. Analysts have often regarded any such characteristics as empirical, self-evident to the assessor.{{cite book |title=Theory of International Politics |url=https://archive.org/details/theoryofinternat00walt |url-access=registration|last=Waltz|first=Kenneth N |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=1979 |page= [https://archive.org/details/theoryofinternat00walt/page/131 131] |isbn=0-201-08349-3}} However, this approach has the disadvantage of subjectivity. As a result, theorists have made attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great-power status. Danilovic (2002){{cite book |last=Danilovic |first=Vesna |title=When the Stakes Are High – Deterrence and Conflict among Major Powers |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-472-11287-6 | url = https://www.press.umich.edu/16953/when_the_stakes_are_high

}}

highlights three central characteristics: "power, spatial, and status dimensions", that distinguish major powers from other states.

{{cite book

|last1 = Danilovic

|first1 = Vesna

|date = 4 June 2010

|orig-date = 2002

|chapter =

|title = When the Stakes Are High: Deterrence and Conflict among Major Powers

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OpZFDwAAQBAJ

|publisher = University of Michigan Press

|page =

|isbn = 9780472026821

|access-date = 27 April 2025

|quote =

}}

{{qn|date=April 2025}}

The following discussion on characteristics is extracted from her discussion of these three dimensions, including all{{huh?|date=April 2025}} of the citations.

Early writings on the subject tended to judge states by the realist criterion, as expressed by the historian A. J. P. Taylor when he noted that "the test of a great power is the test of strength for war".{{cite book|title=The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848–1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/struggleformaste00ajpt |url-access=registration |last=Taylor |first=Alan JP |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford |year=1954 |page=xxiv |isbn=0-19-881270-1}} Later writers have expanded this test, attempting to define power in terms of overall military, economic, and political capacity.Organski, AFK – World Politics, Knopf (1958) Kenneth Waltz, the founder of the neorealist theory of international relations, uses a set of six criteria to determine great-power status: population and territory, resource endowment, military strength, economic capability, political stability and competence.{{Cite journal |last=Waltz |first=Kenneth N.|date=1993|title=The Emerging Structure of International Politics |url=http://www.ir.rochelleterman.com/sites/default/files/Waltz%201993.pdf|journal=International Security |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=50 |via=International Relations Exam Database |doi=10.2307/2539097 |jstor=2539097 |s2cid=154473957 |access-date=22 May 2017|archive-date=6 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406093311/http://www.ir.rochelleterman.com/sites/default/files/Waltz%201993.pdf|url-status=dead}}

John Mearsheimer defines great powers as those that "have sufficient military assets to put up a serious fight in an all-out conventional war against the most powerful state in the world."{{Cite book |last=Mearsheimer |first=John |title=The Tragedy of Great Power Politics|publisher=W. W. Norton|year=2001|page =5}}

As noted above, for many, power capabilities are the sole criterion. Even under more expansive tests, power retains a vital place.

This aspect has received mixed treatment, with some confusion as to the degree of power required. Writers have approached the concept of "great power" with differing conceptualizations of the world situation, from multi-polarity to overwhelming hegemony. In his essay, "French Diplomacy in the Postwar Period", the French historian Jean-Baptiste Duroselle spoke of the concept of multi-polarity: "A Great power is one which is capable of preserving its own independence against any other single power."contained on page 204 in: Kertesz and Fitsomons (eds) – Diplomacy in a Changing World, University of Notre Dame Press (1960)

This attitude differed from that of earlier writers, notably Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886), who clearly had a different idea of the world situation in his day. In his essay "The Great Powers" ({{langx | de | Die grossen Mächte}}), written in 1833, von Ranke wrote: "If one could establish as a definition of a Great power that it must be able to maintain itself against all others, even when they are united, then Frederick has raised Prussia to that position."Iggers and von Moltke "In the Theory and Practice of History", Bobbs-Merrill (1973) These positions have attracted criticism.Danilovic, Vesna. "When the Stakes Are High – Deterrence and Conflict among Major Powers", University of Michigan Press (2002), pp 27, 225–230 [https://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/0472112872-appb.pdf].

In 2011, the United States of America had 10 major strengths according to Chinese scholar Peng Yuan, the director of the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes for Contemporary International Studies.Quoted in Josef Joffe, The Myth of America's Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies (2014) ch. 7.

:1. Population, geographic position, and natural resources

:2. Military muscle

:3. High technology and education

:4. Cultural/soft power

:5. Cyber power

:6. Allies, the United States having more than any other state

:7. Geopolitical strength, as embodied in global projection forces

:8. Intelligence capabilities, as demonstrated by the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden

:9. Intellectual power, fed by a plethora of US think-tanks and the "revolving door" between research institutions and government

:10. Strategic power, the United States being the world's only country with a truly global strategy

However he also noted where the US had recently slipped:

:1. Political power, as manifested by the breakdown of bipartisanship

:2. Economic power, as illustrated by the post-2007 slowdown

:3. Financial power, given intractable deficits and rising debt

:4. Social power, as weakened by societal polarization

:5. Institutional power, since the United States can no longer dominate global institutions

All states have a geographic scope of interests, actions, or projected power. This is a crucial factor in distinguishing a great power from a regional power; by definition, the scope of a regional power is restricted to its region. It has been suggested that a great power should be possessed of actual influence throughout the scope of the prevailing international system. Arnold J. Toynbee, for example, observes that "Great power may be defined as a political force exerting an effect co-extensive with the widest range of the society in which it operates. The Great powers of 1914 were 'world-powers' because Western society had recently become 'world-wide'."{{cite book |title=The World After the Peace Conference |last=Toynbee |first=Arnold J |publisher=Humphrey Milford and Oxford University Press |year=1926 |page=[https://archive.org/details/TheWorldAfterThePeaceConference/page/n8 4] |url=https://archive.org/details/TheWorldAfterThePeaceConference |access-date=24 February 2016}}

Other suggestions have been made that a great power should have the capacity to engage in extra-regional affairs and that a great power ought to be possessed of extra-regional interests, two often closely-connected propositions.Stoll, Richard J – State Power, World Views, and the Major Powers, Contained in: Stoll and Ward (eds) – Power in World Politics, Lynne Rienner Publications (1989)

Formal or informal acknowledgment of a nation's great-power status has also been a criterion for identifying a great power. As political scientist George Modelski notes, "The status of Great power is sometimes confused with the condition of being powerful. The office, as it is known, did in fact evolve from the role played by the great military states in earlier periods... But the Great power system institutionalizes the position of the powerful state in a web of rights and obligations."{{cite book |title=Principles of World Politics |last=Modelski |first=George |publisher=Free Press |year=1972 |page=141 |isbn=978-0-02-921440-4}}

Modelski's approach restricts analysis to the epoch following the 1814-1815 Congress of Vienna at which great powers were first formally recognized. In the absence of such a formal act of recognition it has been suggested that great-power status can arise by implication by judging the nature of a state's relations with other great powers.Domke, William K – "Power, Political Capacity, and Security in the Global System", Contained in: Stoll and Ward (eds) – Power in World Politics, Lynn Rienner Publications (1989)

A further option is to examine a state's willingness to act as a great power. As a country will seldom declare that it is acting as such, this usually entails a retrospective examination of state conduct. As a result, this is of limited use in establishing the nature of contemporary powers, at least not without the exercise of subjective observation.

Other important criteria throughout history are that great powers should have enough influence to be included in discussions of contemporary political and diplomatic questions, and exercise influence on the outcome and resolution. Historically, when major political questions were addressed, several powers met to discuss them. Before the era of groups like the United Nations, participants of such meetings were not officially named but rather were decided based on their implied great-power status. These were conferences that settled important questions based on major historical events.{{efn|The 1648 Peace of Westphalia would qualify. The 325 First Council of Nicaea might also fit the definition.}}

Historian Phillips P. O'Brien, Head of the School of International Relations and Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St. Andrews, criticizes the concept of a great power, arguing that it is dated, vaguely defined, and inconsistently applied.{{Cite news |last =O'Brien |first =Phillips P. |date =2023-06-29 |title =There's No Such Thing as a Great Power |language=en-US |work=Foreign Affairs |url =https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/theres-no-such-thing-great-power |access-date =2023-06-29 |issn =0015-7120}} He states that the term is used to "describe everything from true superpowers such as the United States and China, which wield the full spectrum of economic, technological, and military might, to better-than-average military powers such as Russia, which have nuclear weapons but little else that would be considered indicators of great power. " O'Brien advocates for the concept of a "full-spectrum power", which takes into account "all the fundamentals on which superior military power is built", including economic resources, domestic politics and political systems (which can restrain or expand dimensions of power), technological capabilities, and social and cultural factors (such as a society's willingness to go to war or to invest in military development).{{efn | Both monocultural and multicultural societies may have advantages - note the changing fortunes of the great-power blocs in the course of World War II.}}

{{Further|List of ancient great powers|List of medieval great powers|List of modern great powers|International relations (1814–1919)}}

File:Congress of Vienna.PNG depicting the Congress of Vienna]]

Various sets of great, or significant, powers have existed throughout history. An early reference to great powers is from the third century, when the Persian prophet Mani described Rome, China, Aksum, and Persia as the four greatest kingdoms of his time.{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4376627.stm | title=Obelisk points to ancient Ethiopian glory| date=11 April 2005}} During the Napoleonic wars in Europe, American diplomat James Monroe observed that, "The respect which one power has for another is in exact proportion of the means which they respectively have of injuring each other."Tim McGrath, James Monroe: A Life (2020) p 44. The term "great power" first appears at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.{{cite book | last = Fueter| first = Eduard | title=World history, 1815–1920| publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Company| year=1922| location=United States of America | pages = 25–28, 36–44| isbn = 1584770775| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeKyv9l-3QEC&q=%22Great+Powers%22+%22Congress+of+Vienna%22&pg=PA25}} The Congress established the Concert of Europe as an attempt to preserve peace after the years of Napoleonic Wars.

Lord Castlereagh, the British foreign secretary, first used the term in its diplomatic context, writing on 13 February 1814: "there is every prospect of the Congress terminating with a general accord and Guarantee between the Great powers of Europe, with a determination to support the arrangement agreed upon, and to turn the general influence and if necessary the general arms against the Power that shall first attempt to disturb the Continental peace."

The Congress of Vienna consisted of five main powers: Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain. These five primary participants constituted the original great powers as we know the term today. Other powers, such as Spain, Portugal, and Sweden, which were great powers during the 17th century and the earlier 18th century, were consulted on certain specific issues, but they were not full participants.

After the Congress of Vienna, Great Britain emerged as the pre-eminent global hegemon, due to it being the first nation to industrialize, possessing the largest navy, and the extent of its overseas empire, which ushered in a century of Pax Britannica. The balance of power between the Great Powers became a major influence in European politics, prompting Otto von Bismarck to say "All politics reduces itself to this formula: try to be one of three, as long as the world is governed by the unstable equilibrium of five great powers."{{cite book|last=Bartlett|first=C. J.|title=Peace, War and the European Powers, 1814–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eVPQWWqHbi8C&pg=PA106|year=1996|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9780312161385|page=106}}

Over time, the relative power of these five nations fluctuated, which by the dawn of the 20th century had served to create an entirely different balance of power. Great Britain and the new German Empire (from 1871), experienced continued economic growth and political power.{{cite web|url=http://www.courses.rochester.edu/stone/PSC272/lectures/05-Pro%20Waltz.ppt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616093235/http://www.courses.rochester.edu/stone/PSC272/lectures/05-Pro%20Waltz.ppt|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 June 2007|title=Multi-polarity vs Bipolarity, Subsidiary hypotheses, Balance of Power|access-date=20 December 2008|format=PPT|publisher=University of Rochester}} Others, such as Russia and Austria-Hungary, stagnated.{{cite web|url=http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/aus-hun.htm|title=European History Austria-Hungary 1870–1914|access-date=20 December 2008|last=Tonge|first=Stephen}} At the same time, other states were emerging and expanding in power, largely through the process of industrialization. These countries seeking to attain great power status were: Italy after the Risorgimento era, Japan during the Meiji era, and the United States after its civil war. By 1900, the balance of world power had changed substantially since the Congress of Vienna. The Eight-Nation Alliance was an alliance of eight nations created in response to the Boxer Rebellion in China. It formed in 1900 and consisted of the five Congress powers plus Italy, Japan, and the United States, representing the great powers at the beginning of the 20th century.{{cite book|last=Dallin|first=David|title=The Rise of Russia in Asia|publisher=Read Books|date=30 November 2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5nIUd_mlEcC&pg=PA62|isbn=978-1-4067-2919-1}}

File:Council of Four Versailles.jpg at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919: David Lloyd George, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson]]

File:Yalta Conference cropped.jpg at the Yalta Conference: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin]]

File:Cairo conference.jpg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, sitting together elbow to elbow|The Allied leaders of the Asian and Pacific Theatre: Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943]]

Shifts of international power have most notably occurred through major conflicts.[http://jcr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/32/1/87 Power Transitions as the cause of war]. The conclusion of World War I and the resulting treaties of Versailles, St-Germain, Neuilly, Trianon, and Sèvres made Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States the chief arbiters of the new world order.[http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/glossary_entry.jsp?id=EV.0003 Globalization and Autonomy] by Julie Sunday, McMaster University. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215144723/http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/glossary_entry.jsp?id=EV.0003 |date=15 December 2007 }} The German Empire was defeated, Austria-Hungary was divided into new, less powerful states and the Russian Empire fell to revolution. During the Paris Peace Conference, the "Big Four" – Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States – controlled the proceedings and outcome of the treaties more than Japan. The Big Four were the architects of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed by Germany; the Treaty of St. Germain, with Austria; the Treaty of Neuilly, with Bulgaria; the Treaty of Trianon, with Hungary; and the Treaty of Sèvres, with the Ottoman Empire. During the decision-making of the Treaty of Versailles, Italy pulled out of the conference because a part of its demands were not met and temporarily left the other three countries as the sole major architects of that treaty, referred to as the "Big Three".{{cite book|last=MacMillan|first=Margaret|author-link=Margaret MacMillan|title=Paris 1919|publisher=Random House Trade|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/parissixmonthsth00macm_414/page/n87 36], 306, 431|isbn=0-375-76052-0|title-link=Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War}}

The status of the victorious great powers were recognised by permanent seats at the League of Nations Council, where they acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly of the League. However, the council began with only four permanent members – Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan – because the United States, meant to be the fifth permanent member, never joined the League. Germany later joined after the Locarno Treaties, which made it a member of the League of Nations, and later left (and withdrew from the League in 1933); Japan left, and the Soviet Union joined.

When World War II began in 1939, it divided the world into two alliances: the Allies (initially the United Kingdom and France, and Poland, followed in 1941 by the Soviet Union, China, and the United States) and the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan).{{efn|Even though the book The Economics of World War II lists seven great powers at the start of 1939 (Great Britain, Japan, France, Italy, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States), it focuses only on six of them, because France surrendered shortly after the war began.Harrison, M (2000) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgFu2p5uogwC&q=great+powers M1 The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison], Cambridge University Press.}} During World War II, the US, UK, USSR, and China were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful"{{cite book|last1=Doenecke|first1=Justus D.|last2=Stoler|first2=Mark A.|title=Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's foreign policies, 1933–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xdMF9rX6mX8C&pg=PA62|year=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=0-8476-9416-X}} and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in Declaration by United Nations in 1942.Hoopes, Townsend, and Douglas Brinkley. FDR and the Creation of the U.N. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-300-06930-3}}. These four countries were referred as the "Four Policemen" of the Allies and considered as the primary victors of World War II.{{cite book|title=The Turning Point: Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek, 1943: The Moscow, Cairo, and Teheran Conferences|url=https://archive.org/details/turningpoint00keit|url-access=registration|first=Keith|last=Sainsbury|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1986|isbn=978-0-19-215858-1}} The importance of France was acknowledged by their inclusion, along with the other four, in the group of countries allotted permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council.

Since the end of the World Wars, the term "great power" has been joined by a number of other power classifications. Foremost among these is the concept of the superpower, used to describe those nations with overwhelming power and influence in the rest of the world. It was first coined in 1944 by William T. R. FoxThe Superpowers: The United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union – Their Responsibility for Peace (1944), written by William T. R. Fox and according to him, there were three superpowers: Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. But after World War II Britain lost its superpower status.Peden, 2012. The term middle power has emerged for those nations which exercise a degree of global influence but are insufficient to be decisive on international affairs. Regional powers are those whose influence is generally confined to their region of the world.

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, which began following World War II. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945.{{Cite book|last=Sempa|first=Francis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Px4uDwAAQBAJ|title=Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century|date=2017-07-12|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-351-51768-3}}

During the Cold War, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and West Germany rebuilt their economies. France and the United Kingdom maintained technologically advanced armed forces with power projection capabilities and maintain large defense budgets to this day. Yet, as the Cold War continued, authorities began to question if France and the United Kingdom could retain their long-held status as great powers.{{cite web|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005274|title=Middle Power|access-date=20 December 2008|last=Holmes|first=John|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303131625/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0005274|archive-date=3 March 2009}} China, with the world's largest population, has slowly risen to great power status, with large growth in economic and military power in the post-war period. After 1949, the Republic of China began to lose its recognition as the sole legitimate government of China by the other great powers, in favour of the People's Republic of China. Subsequently, in 1971, it lost its permanent seat at the UN Security Council to the People's Republic of China.

China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are often referred to as great powers by academics due to "their political and economic dominance of the global arena".Yasmi Adriansyah, 'Questioning Indonesia's place in the world', Asia Times (20 September 2011): 'Though there are still debates on which countries belong to which category, there is a common understanding that the GP [great power] countries are the United States, China, United Kingdom, France, and Russia. Besides their political and economic dominance of the global arena, these countries have a special status in the United Nations Security Council with their permanent seats and veto rights.' These five nations are the only states to have permanent seats with veto power on the UN Security Council. They are also the only state entities to have met the conditions to be considered "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and maintain military expenditures which are among the largest in the world.{{cite web|url=http://books.sipri.org/product_info?c_product_id=458#|title=The 15 countries with the highest military expenditure in 2012 (table)|publisher=Stockholm International Peace Research Institute|format=PDF|access-date=15 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415232842/http://books.sipri.org/product_info?c_product_id=458|archive-date=15 April 2013}} However, there is no unanimous agreement among authorities as to the current status of these powers or what precisely defines a great power. For example, following the Cold War and the two decades after it, some sources referred to China,Gerald Segal, [http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55401/gerald-segal/does-china-matter Does China Matter?], Foreign Affairs (September/October 1999). France,P. Shearman, M. Sussex, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T55xTVQq4IIC European Security After 9/11] (Ashgate, 2004) – According to Shearman and Sussex, both the UK and France were great powers now reduced to middle power status. Russia{{cite journal|first=Iver B.|last=Neumann|title=Russia as a great power, 1815–2007|journal=Journal of International Relations and Development|year=2008|volume=11|issue=2|pages=128–151 [p. 128]|quote=As long as Russia's rationality of government deviates from present-day hegemonic neo-liberal models by favouring direct state rule rather than indirect governance, the West will not recognize Russia as a fully-fledged great power.|doi=10.1057/jird.2008.7|doi-access=free}}{{cite news|first=Sherman|last=Garnett|title=Russia ponders its nuclear options|newspaper=Washington Times|date=6 November 1995|page=2|quote=Russia must deal with the rise of other middle powers in Eurasia at a time when it is more of a middle power itself.}}{{cite news|first=Geoff|last=Kitney|title=Putin It To The People|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=25 March 2000|page=41|quote=The Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, which includes senior figures believed to be close to Putin, will soon publish a report saying Russia's superpower days are finished and that the country should settle for being a middle power with a matching defence structure.}} and the United Kingdom as middle powers. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, its UN Security Council permanent seat was transferred to the Russian Federation in 1991, as its largest successor state. The newly formed Russian Federation emerged on the level of a great power, leaving the United States as the only remaining global superpower.{{efn|The fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union left the United States as the only remaining superpower in the 1990s, although some support a multipolar world view.}}

Although Russia is commonly thought to be a great power, subsequent to Russia's military's underperformance in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and factors such as the negative effects it has had on Russia's economic and technological strength, geopolitics expert George Friedman, an article in Foreign Affairs magazine and a journal article in International Security have indicated that Russia is no longer a great power.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtzOJZMZvCE How Long Can Putin Hold onto Power? George Friedman on the Future of Russia], Geopolitical Futures, 2025[https://archive.is/n5494#selection-1111.0-1131.13 There’s No Such Thing as a Great Power] By Phillips P. O’Brien, Foreign Affairs magazine, June 29, 2023[https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/49/2/7/125214/Back-to-Bipolarity-How-China-s-Rise-Transformed Back to Bipolarity: How China's Rise Transformed the Balance of Power] by Jennifer Lind, International Security, MIT Press, Volume 49, Issue 2, 2024 Kathryn E. Stoner's 2021 book Russia Resurrected. Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order published by Oxford University Press argues that Russia is not a great power in the traditional understanding of the term, but is instead a disruptor/challenger to the current international system.[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352737571_How_powerful_is_Russia_Review_of_Russia_resurrected_a_book_by_Kathryn_Stoner_New_Eastern_Europe_June-August_4_XLVII2021_p_162-168 How powerful is Russia? Review of "Russia resurrected", a book by Kathryn Stoner, "New Eastern Europe" June-August, 4 (XLVII)/2021, p. 162-168] by Jakub Bornio, University of Wrocław, 2021 The historian Stephen Kotkin and the international relations scholar John Mearsheimer have both remarked that Russia is a "weak great power".[https://archive.is/mPLLf#selection-1521.39-1521.99 Russia’s Perpetual Geopolitics] by Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs magazine, May/June 2016. Published on April 18, 2016[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIfJNK2rLlQ&t=969s Why Russia-Ukraine War May End In A Frozen Conflict & Why US Should Focus On China: John Mearsheimer], Crux video, 2023[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-2Oy3MVyyA John J. Mearsheimer: Great Power Politics in the 21st Century & The Implications for Hungary], Századvég Alapítvány, video, 2023 (Transcript at: [https://singjupost.com/transcript-of-john-j-mearsheimer-great-power-politics-in-the-21st-century-the-implications-for-hungary/ Transcript of John J. Mearsheimer: Great Power Politics in the 21st Century & The Implications for Hungary]) In addition, in 2014, Mearsheimer said: "Russia is a declining power, and it will only get weaker with time."[https://archive.is/uGzl1 Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault], Foreign Affairs magazine, Published August 18, 2014

Germany and Japan are widely considered great powers as well, due in large part to their highly advanced economies (as the two possess the third and fourth largest economies by nominal GDP respectively) rather than their strategic and hard power capabilities (i.e., the lack of permanent seats and veto power on the UN Security Council or strategic military reach).{{cite book|author1=T.V. Paul|author2=James Wirtz|author3=Michel Fortmann|title=Balance of Power: Theory and Practice in the 21st century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jy28vBqscQC&pg=PA59|date=8 September 2004|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-5017-2|pages=59–}}{{cite web|author=Worldcrunch.com|url=http://www.worldcrunch.com/europes-superpower-germany-new-indispensable-and-resented-nation/4176|title=Europe's Superpower: Germany Is The New Indispensable (And Resented) Nation|publisher=Worldcrunch.com|date=28 November 2011|access-date=17 November 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229150611/http://www.worldcrunch.com/europes-superpower-germany-new-indispensable-and-resented-nation/4176|archive-date=29 February 2012}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8898945/Germany-The-reluctant-superpower.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8898945/Germany-The-reluctant-superpower.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Daily Telegraph|first=Simon|last=Winder|title=Germany: The reluctant superpower|date=19 November 2011}}{{cbignore}} Germany has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members in the P5+1 grouping of world powers. Like China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom; Germany and Japan have also been referred to as middle powers.{{cite journal|journal=British Journal of Political Science|title=Neither Hegemony nor Dominance: Reconsidering German Power in Post Cold-War Europe|author=Sperling, James|year=2001|doi=10.1017/S0007123401000151|volume=31|issue=2|pages=389–425}}{{cite book|author1=Max Otte|author2=Jürgen Greve|year=2000|title=A Rising Middle Power?: German Foreign Policy in Transformation, 1989–1999|place=Germany|page=324|isbn=0-312-22653-5}}Er LP (2006) [http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/contemporary_southeast_asia_a_journal_of_international_and_strategic_affairs/v028/28.1er.html Japan's Human Security Rolein Southeast Asia]"Merkel as a world star - Germany's place in the world", The Economist (18 November 2006), p. 27: "Germany, says Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, is now pretty much where it belongs: squarely at the centre. Whether it wants to be or not, the country is a Mittelmacht, or middle power."Susanna Vogt, "Germany and the G20", in Wilhelm Hofmeister, Susanna Vogt, G20: Perceptions and Perspectives for Global Governance (Singapore: 19 October 2011), p. 76, citing Thomas Fues and Julia Leininger (2008): "Germany and the Heiligendamm Process", in Andrew Cooper and Agata Antkiewicz (eds.): Emerging Powers in Global Governance: Lessons from the Heiligendamm Process, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, p. 246: "Germany's motivation for the initiative had been '... driven by a combination of leadership qualities and national interests of a middle power with civilian characteristics'.""Change of Great Powers", in Global Encyclopaedia of Political Geography, by M.A. Chaudhary and Guatam Chaudhary (New Delhi, 2009.), p. 101: "Germany is considered by experts to be an economic power. It is considered as a middle power in Europe by Chancellor Angela Merkel, former President Johannes Rau and leading media of the country."Susanne Gratius, Is Germany still a EU-ropean power?, FRIDE Policy Brief, No. 115 (February 2012), pp. 1–2: "Being the world's fourth largest economic power and the second largest in terms of exports has not led to any greater effort to correct Germany's low profile in foreign policy ... For historic reasons and because of its size, Germany has played a middle-power role in Europe for over 50 years." In his 2014 publication Great Power Peace and American Primacy, Joshua Baron considers China, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States as the current great powers.{{cite book|last1=Baron|first1=Joshua|title=Great Power Peace and American Primacy: The Origins and Future of a New International Order|date=22 January 2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=United States|isbn=978-1137299482}}

Italy has been referred to as a great power by a number of academics and commentators throughout the post-WWII era.{{cite book|title=Canada Among Nations, 2004: Setting Priorities Straight|date=17 January 2005|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP|isbn=0773528369|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nTKBdY5HBeUC}} ("The United States is the sole world's superpower. France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom are great powers"){{cite book|last1=Sterio|first1=Milena|title=The right to self-determination under international law: "selfistans", secession and the rule of the great powers|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|location=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon|isbn=978-0415668187|page=xii (preface)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-QuI6n_OVMYC}} ("The great powers are super-sovereign states: an exclusive club of the most powerful states economically, militarily, politically and strategically. These states include veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia), as well as economic powerhouses such as Germany, Italy and Japan."){{cite book|title=Transforming Military Power since the Cold War: Britain, France, and the United States, 1991–2012|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1107471498|page=224|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=canqAAAAQBAJ}} (During the Kosovo War (1998) "...Contact Group consisting of six great powers (the United states, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Italy)."){{cite book|title=Why are Pivot States so Pivotal? The Role of Pivot States in Regional and Global Security|date=2014|publisher=The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies|location=Netherlands|page=Table on page 10 (Great Power criteria)|url=http://www.hcss.nl/reports/download/150/2483/|access-date=14 June 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011200310/http://www.hcss.nl/reports/download/150/2483/|archive-date=11 October 2016}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/key-enablers|title=Clarifying the nation's role strengthens the impact of a National Security Strategy 2019|last=Kuper|first=Stephen|language=en|quote=Traditionally, great powers have been defined by their global reach and ability to direct the flow of international affairs. There are a number of recognised great powers within the context of contemporary international relations – with Great Britain, France, India and Russia recognised as nuclear-capable great powers, while Germany, Italy and Japan are identified as conventional great powers|access-date=22 January 2020|archive-date=10 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210044814/https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/key-enablers|url-status=dead}} The American international legal scholar Milena Sterio writes: {{blockquote|The great powers are super-sovereign states: an exclusive club of the most powerful states economically, militarily, politically and strategically. These states include veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia), as well as economic powerhouses such as Germany, Italy and Japan.}} Sterio also cites Italy's status in the Group of Seven (G7) and the nation's influence in regional and international organizations for its status as a great power. Italy has been a member together with the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany in the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG){{Cite web | url=https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/lebanon/events/article/lebanon-ministerial-meeting-of-the-international-support-group-paris-08-12-17 | title=Lebanon – Ministerial meeting of the International Support Group (Paris, 08.12.17)}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-election/big-power-grouping-urges-lebanon-to-uphold-policy-on-steering-clear-of-war-idUSKBN1IB2V4 |title = Big power grouping urges Lebanon to uphold policy on steering clear of war|newspaper = Reuters|date = 10 May 2018}}{{cite press release |url=https://unscol.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/isg-pm-designate_saad_hariri_11_07_18.pdf |title=Members of the International Support Group for Lebanon Meet with Prime Minister Designate Saad Hariri |publisher=unmisssions.org |date=11 July 2018 |access-date=7 March 2022}} grouping of world powers. Some analysts assert that Italy is an "intermittent" or the "Least of the Great Powers",{{cite book|editor1=Dimitris Bourantonis |editor2=Marios Evriviades|title=A United Nations for the twenty-first century: peace, security, and development|date=1997|publisher=Kluwer Law International|location=Boston|isbn=9041103120|page=77|url=https://www.google.it/search?tbm=bks&hl=it&q=A+United+Nations+for+the+Twenty-First+Century%3A+Peace%2C+Security%2C+and+Development|access-date=13 June 2016}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20150413191614/http://www.eurasia-rivista.org/italia-150-anos-de-uma-pequena-grande-potencia/7478/ Italy: 150 years of a small great power], eurasia-rivista.org, 21 December 2010 while some others believe Italy is a middle or regional power.{{cite book|last1=Verbeek|first1=Bertjan|last2=Giacomello|first2=Giampiero|title=Italy's foreign policy in the twenty-first century: the new assertiveness of an aspiring middle power|date=2011|publisher=Lexington Books|location=Lanham, Md.|isbn=978-0-7391-4868-6}}"Operation Alba may be considered one of the most important instances in which Italy has acted as a regional power, taking the lead in executing a technically and politically coherent and determined strategy." See Federiga Bindi, Italy and the European Union (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2011), p. 171."Italy plays a prominent role in European and global military, cultural and diplomatic affairs. The country's European political, social and economic influence make it a major regional power." See Italy: Justice System and National Police Handbook, Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: International Business Publications, 2009), p. 9.

International relations academics Gabriele Abbondanza and Thomas Wilkins have classified Italy as an "awkward" great power on account of its top-tier economic, military, political, and socio-cultural capabilities and credentials - including its G7 and NATO Quint membership - which are moderated by its lack of national nuclear weapons and permanent membership to the UN Security Council.{{cite book|editor1=Gabriele Abbondanza|editor2=Thomas Wilkins|title=Awkward Powers: Escaping Traditional Great and Middle Power Theory|series=Global Political Transitions |date=2022|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-981-16-0369-3|page=|doi=10.1007/978-981-16-0370-9 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-0370-9|access-date=20 September 2024}}

In addition to these contemporary great powers mentioned above, Zbigniew Brzezinski[https://archive.org/details/strategicvisiona0000brze Strategic Vision: America & the Crisis of Global Power] by Zbigniew Brzezinski, pp. 43–45. Published 2012. considers India to be a great power. However, there is no collective agreement among observers as to the status of India, for example, a number of academics believe that India is emerging as a great power,{{cite book|last1=Brewster|first1=David|title=India as an Asia Pacific Power|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=United States|isbn=978-1136620089}} while some believe that India remains a middle power.Charalampos Efstathopoulosa, 'Reinterpreting India's Rise through the Middle Power Prism', Asian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 19, Issue 1 (2011), p. 75: 'India's role in the contemporary world order can be optimally asserted by the middle power concept. The concept allows for distinguishing both strengths and weakness of India's globalist agency, shifting the analytical focus beyond material-statistical calculations to theorise behavioural, normative and ideational parameters.'Robert W. Bradnock, India's Foreign Policy since 1971 (The Royal Institute for International Affairs, London: Pinter Publishers, 1990), quoted in Leonard Stone, 'India and the Central Eurasian Space', Journal of Third World Studies, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2007, p. 183: "The U.S. is a superpower whereas India is a middle power. A superpower could accommodate another superpower because the alternative would be equally devastating to both. But the relationship between a superpower and a middle power is of a different kind. The former does not need to accommodate the latter while the latter cannot allow itself to be a satellite of the former."Jan Cartwright, 'India's Regional and International Support for Democracy: Rhetoric or Reality?', Asian Survey, Vol. 49, No. 3 (May/June 2009), p. 424: 'India's democratic rhetoric has also helped it further establish its claim as being a rising "middle power." (A "middle power" is a term that is used in the field of international relations to describe a state that is not a superpower but still wields substantial influence globally. In addition to India, other "middle powers" include, for example, Australia and Canada.)'

The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint, the G7, the BRICS, and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts.{{cite book|title=The Routledge Handbook of Transatlantic Security|date=2 July 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136936074|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swfHBQAAQBAJ}} (see section on 'The G6/G7: great power governance')[http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/scholar/kirton198901/kcon1.htm Contemporary Concert Diplomacy: The Seven-Power Summit as an International Concert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006151509/http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/scholar/kirton198901/kcon1.htm |date=6 October 2019 }}, Professor John Kirton{{cite book|last1=Penttilä|first1=Risto|title=The Role of the G8 in International Peace and Security|date=17 June 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136053528|pages=17–32|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qaLncAQ1OKIC}} (The G8 as a Concert of Great Powers)Tables of Sciences Po and Documentation Francaise: [https://07d0eb30-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/munsummit/herramientas/referencias/mapas-y-graficas/russia-y-las-grandes-potencias-g8-y-china/17_1_g8etchine_gauche.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cpJpyCUv6rF4H4LtX7iqDUo3K0wf4U4eg_avHPZBPEBMw60hYqFCA6VClilGg7LOf0AIcVuJu8odeqiyMEHQcaq6wzFXVIVV6ExURMlSLuEssICme77DQb0Z-xjCWiFPBtTUgbL_viUy5gRdAMz98ihtqC6iEdsPVKma9E6-zPDzyPvqZMkBWobG5SaQQb3BSVMlRcrlSz63a1urcQI5qFji5Zc_hxcXHhIjISbKzQ57-onqlPhGN1e0J-20TJzIg_5F1wG5PDJnOu_INDxALfaqHhyqzeUNkm4F3kL5iXpQCwISpaPw0xJAkoe_mrKT9iJ1WJZ2tUjLnEqid7_Vc6dwz1OYw%3D%3D&attredirects=0 Russia y las grandes potencias] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028215613/https://07d0eb30-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/munsummit/herramientas/referencias/mapas-y-graficas/russia-y-las-grandes-potencias-g8-y-china/17_1_g8etchine_gauche.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cpJpyCUv6rF4H4LtX7iqDUo3K0wf4U4eg_avHPZBPEBMw60hYqFCA6VClilGg7LOf0AIcVuJu8odeqiyMEHQcaq6wzFXVIVV6ExURMlSLuEssICme77DQb0Z-xjCWiFPBtTUgbL_viUy5gRdAMz98ihtqC6iEdsPVKma9E6-zPDzyPvqZMkBWobG5SaQQb3BSVMlRcrlSz63a1urcQI5qFji5Zc_hxcXHhIjISbKzQ57-onqlPhGN1e0J-20TJzIg_5F1wG5PDJnOu_INDxALfaqHhyqzeUNkm4F3kL5iXpQCwISpaPw0xJAkoe_mrKT9iJ1WJZ2tUjLnEqid7_Vc6dwz1OYw==&attredirects=0 |date=28 October 2019 }} and

[http://cartographie.sciences-po.fr/sites/default/files/17_2_g8etchine_droite.jpg G8 et Chine] (2004)

A 2017 study by the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies qualified China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia, and the United States as the current great powers.{{cite book | last1=Sweijs | first1=T. | last2=De Spiegeleire | first2=S. | last3=de Jong | first3=S. | last4=Oosterveld | first4=W. | last5=Roos | first5=H. | last6=Bekkers | first6=F. | last7=Usanov | first7=A. | last8=de Rave | first8=R. | last9=Jans | first9=K. | title=Volatility and friction in the age of disintermediation | publisher=The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies | page=43 |date=2017 | isbn=978-94-92102-46-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1EonDwAAQBAJ | access-date=2022-04-29 | quote=We qualify the following states as great powers: China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and the United States.}}

{{See also|Emerging power}}

With continuing European integration, the European Union is increasingly being seen as a great power in its own right,{{cite book|last=Buzan|first=Barry|title=The United States and the Great Powers|publisher=Polity Press|year=2004|location=Cambridge, United Kingdom|page=70|isbn=0-7456-3375-7}} with representation at the WTO and at G7 and G-20 summits. This is most notable in areas where the European Union has exclusive competence (i.e. economic affairs). It also reflects a non-traditional conception of Europe's world role as a global "civilian power", exercising collective influence in the functional spheres of trade and diplomacy, as an alternative to military dominance.Veit Bachmann and James D Sidaway, "Zivilmacht Europa: A Critical Geopolitics of the European Union as a Global Power", Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Jan. 2009), pp. 94–109. The European Union is a supranational union and not a sovereign state and does not have its own foreign affairs or defence policies; these remain largely with the member states, which include France, Germany and, before Brexit, the United Kingdom (referred to collectively as the "EU three").

Brazil and India are widely regarded as emerging powers with the potential to be great powers. Political scientist Stephen P. Cohen asserts that India is an emerging power, but highlights that some strategists consider India to be already a great power."India: Emerging Power", by Stephen P. Cohen, p. 60 Some academics such as Zbigniew Brzezinski and David A. Robinson already regard India as a major or great power.{{cite web|url=http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publications/associate-papers/137-indias-rise-as-a-great-power-part-one-regional-and-global-implications.html|title=India's Rise as a Great Power, Part One: Regional and Global Implications|publisher=Futuredirections.org.au|date=7 July 2011|access-date=17 November 2013|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127053340/http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publications/associate-papers/137-indias-rise-as-a-great-power-part-one-regional-and-global-implications.html|archive-date=27 November 2013}}

Former British Ambassador to Brazil, Peter Collecott identifies that Brazil's recognition as a potential great and superpower largely stems from its own national identity and ambition.{{cite web|author=Peter Collecott|url=http://www.diplomaticourier.com/2011/10/29/brazil-s-quest-for-superpower-status/|title=Brazil's Quest for Superpower Status|publisher=The Diplomatic Courier|date=29 October 2011|access-date=10 August 2014}} Professor Kwang Ho Chun feels that Brazil will emerge as a great power with an important position in some spheres of influence.{{cite book|author=Kwang Ho Chun|title=The BRICs Superpower Challenge: Foreign and Security Policy Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgDJNAEACAAJ|access-date=21 September 2015|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-1-4094-6869-1}} Others suggest India and Brazil may even have the potential to emerge as a superpower.{{cite book|author=Robyn Meredith|title=The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us|publisher=W.W Norton and Company|year=2007|isbn=978-0-393-33193-6|url=https://archive.org/details/elephantdragonri00mere}}

Permanent membership of the UN Security Council is widely regarded as being a central tenet of great power status in the modern world; Brazil, Germany, India and Japan form the G4 nations which support one another (and have varying degrees of support from the existing permanent members) in becoming permanent members.{{cite web|last=Sharma |first=Rajeev |url = http://www.firstpost.com/world/india-pushes-the-envelope-at-g4-summit-pm-modi-tells-unsc-to-make-space-for-largest-democracies-2446526.html|title = India pushes the envelope at G4 Summit: PM Modi tells UNSC to make space for largest democracies |date = 27 September 2015 |access-date = 20 October 2015 |work=First Post}} The G4 is opposed by the Italian-led Uniting for Consensus group. There are however few signs that reform of the Security Council will happen in the near future.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

{{Portal|border=no|Politics|World}}

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{{Reflist|group="nb"}}

{{notelist}}

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{{refbegin}}

• Abbenhuis, Maartje. An Age of Neutrals Great Power Politics, 1815–1914 (2014) [https://www.amazon.com/Age-Neutrals-Great-Politics-1815-1914/dp/1107037603/ excerpt]
• Allison, Graham. "The New Spheres of Influence: Sharing the Globe with Other Great Powers." Foreign Affairs 99 (2020): 30+ [https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-02-10/new-spheres-influence online]
• Bridge, Roy, and Roger Bullen, eds. The Great Powers and the European States System 1814–1914 (2nd ed. 2004) [https://www.amazon.com/Powers-European-States-System-1814-1914/dp/0582784581 excerpt]
• Brooks, Stephen G., and William C. Wohlforth. "The rise and fall of the great powers in the twenty-first century: China's rise and the fate of America's global position." International Security 40.3 (2016): 7–53. [https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/ISEC_a_00225 online]
• {{cite book|title=France and the Nazi Threat: The Collapse of French Diplomacy 1932–1939|first=Jean-Baptiste|last=Duroselle|publisher=Enigma Books|isbn=1-929631-15-4|year= 2004|ref=none}}
• Edelstein, David M. Over the Horizon: Time, Uncertainty, and the Rise of Great Powers (Cornell UP, 2017). {{ISBN?}}
• Eloranta, Jari, Eric Golson, Peter Hedberg, and Maria Cristina Moreira, eds. Small and Medium Powers in Global History: Trade, Conflicts, and Neutrality from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Centuries (Routledge, 2018) 240 pp. [https://eh.net/book_reviews/small-and-medium-powers-in-global-history-trade-conflicts-and-neutrality-from-the-eighteenth-to-the-twentieth-centuries/ online review]
• Ferguson, Niall, "Ferguson’s Law: Debt Service, Military Spending, and the Fiscal Limits of Power" (working paper), Hoover Institution, Hoover History Lab, Applied History Working Group, 21 February 2025. A great power that spends more on debt service than on defense risks losing its status as a great power. The United States in 2024, for the first time in nearly a century, began violating Ferguson’s law.
• Joffe, Josef. The Myth of America's Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies (2014) [https://archive.org/details/mythofamericasde0000joff online]
• Joffe, Josef. The Future of the great powers (1998) [https://archive.org/details/greatpowers00joff online]
• Kassab, Hanna Samir. Grand strategies of weak states and great powers (Springer, 2017). {{ISBN?}}
• Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987) [https://archive.org/details/risefallofgreatp00kenn online]
• {{cite book|author1=Mckay, Derek |author2=H.M. Scott|title=The Rise of the Great Powers 1648–1815|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OaiQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PR7|year=1983|publisher=Pearson|isbn=978-1317872849|ref=none}}
• MacDonald, Paul K.; Parent, Joseph M. (2021). "The Status of Status in World Politics". World Politics. 73 (2): 358–391.
• Maass, Matthias. Small states in world politics: The story of small state survival, 1648–2016 (2017). {{ISBN?}}
• Michaelis, Meir. "World Power Status or World Dominion? A Survey of the Literature on Hitler's 'Plan of World Dominion' (1937–1970)." Historical Journal 15#2 (1972): 331–60. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638127 online].
• Ogden, Chris. China and India: Asia's emergent great powers (John Wiley & Sons, 2017). {{ISBN?}}
• Newmann, I.B. ed. Regional Great Powers in International Politics (1992) {{ISBN?}}
• Schulz, Matthias. "A Balancing Act: Domestic Pressures and International Systemic Constraints in the Foreign Policies of the Great Powers, 1848–1851." German History 21.3 (2003): 319–346.
• {{cite book|title=The Tragedy of Great Power Politics|author-link=John J. Mearsheimer|first=John J.|last=Mearsheimer|location=New York|publisher=Norton|isbn=0393020258|year=2001|url=https://archive.org/details/tragedyofgreatpo00mear|ref=none}}
• Neumann, Iver B. "Russia as a great power, 1815–2007." Journal of International Relations and Development 11.2 (2008): 128–151. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/jird.2008.7 online]
• O'Brian, Patrick K. Atlas of World History (2007) [https://archive.org/details/atlas-of-world-history/page/n2 Online ]
• Peden, G. C. "Suez and Britain's Decline as a World Power." Historical Journal 55#4 (2012), pp. 1073–1096. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23352191 online]
• Pella, John & Erik Ringmar, (2019) History of international relations [http://www.irhistory.info/%20History%20of%20International%20Relations Online ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816033245/http://www.irhistory.info/%20History%20of%20International%20Relations |date=16 August 2019 }}
• Shifrinson, Joshua R. Itzkowitz. Rising titans, falling giants: how great powers exploit power shifts (Cornell UP, 2018).{{ISBN?}}
• {{cite book|title=Theory of International Politics|author-link=Kenneth Waltz|first=Kenneth N.|last=Waltz|location=Reading|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=0201083493|year=1979|ref=none}}
• Ward, Steven. Status and the Challenge of Rising Powers (2018) [https://www.amazon.com/Status-Challenge-Rising-Powers-Steven/dp/1316633543/ excerpt from book]; also [https://risingpowersproject.com/quarterly/status-and-the-challenge-of-rising-powers-by-steven-ward-cambridge-cambridge-university-press-2017-isbn-978-1107182363-pp-x-282-hardback-75-00/ online review]
• {{cite book|title=World Politics: Trend and Transformation|first=Eugene R.|last=Witkopf|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=0312892462|year=1981|ref=none}}
• Xuetong, Yan. Leadership and the rise of great powers (Princeton UP, 2019).{{ISBN?}}

{{refend}}

{{Library resources box}}

• {{Britannica|243609}}
• [https://risingpowersproject.com/ Rising Powers Project] publishes Rising Powers Quarterly (2016– )

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