Great power

A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale.

[1][5][6] The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint, the G7, the BRICS, and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts.

The "Great Powers" constituted the "Concert of Europe" and claimed the right to joint enforcement of the postwar treaties.

As a result, there have been attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great power status.

"[15] Later writers have expanded this test, attempting to define power in terms of overall military, economic, and political capacity.

[16] Kenneth Waltz, the founder of the neorealist theory of international relations, uses a set of six criteria to determine great power: population and territory, resource endowment, military strength, economic capability, political stability and competence.

Writers have approached the concept of great power with differing conceptualizations of the world situation, from multi-polarity to overwhelming hegemony.

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.

Before the era of groups like the United Nations, participants of such meetings were not officially named but rather were decided based on their great power status.

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.

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.

"[9] The Congress of Vienna consisted of five main powers: the Austrian Empire, France, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain.

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.

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.

[38][nb 1] During World War II, the US, UK, USSR, and China were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful"[39] and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in Declaration by United Nations in 1942.

[41] 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.

[43] 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.

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.

Yet, as the Cold War continued, authorities began to question if France and the United Kingdom could retain their long-held statuses as great powers.

For example, following the Cold War and the two decades after it, some sources referred to China,[48] France,[49] Russia[50][51][52] and the United Kingdom[49] 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[nb 2] (although some support a multipolar world view).

[74][75][76] 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.

[80][81][82] The United Nations Security Council, NATO Quint, the G7, the BRICS, and the Contact Group have all been described as great power concerts.

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.

[92] Professor Kwang Ho Chun feels that Brazil will emerge as a great power with an important position in some spheres of influence.