The United States had almost all the attributes of a great power—it stood ahead or nearly ahead of almost all other countries in terms of population, geographic size and location on two oceans, economic resources, and military potential. Foreign policy had to change to meet these new circumstances.
President William McKinley drew attention to the new situation in the instructions he gave to the delegation of American statesmen who negotiated the Treaty of Paris. Another contemporary observer, George L. Rives , extended this interpretation. Growing up, I learned that a global superpower was a nation with a strong education system, economy, technological advances, and military.
To my parents, the U. The United States is a nation admired for the generations of opportunity it has provided. However, I think this greatness is under the threat from nations like China, Japan and Singapore, whose economy, education systems and focus on innovation are quickly catching up or surpassing that of the United States. United States can maintain its position as a global super power by confronting challenges in its education system to meet new needs in society, and to reemphasize innovation and the ideal of entrepreneurialism.
The term global superpower, according to websites like the World Bank or IMF, are also financially stable enough to assist nations that need extensive humanitarian aid. These top-grossing nations are always the strongest economically, technologically, and educationally. The United States attracts students from around the world with the best universities and top doctors and sick patients with advanced hospitals.
Militarily, the U. Despite great levels of poverty, China has emerged as an economic super power because it manufactures so many of the products consumed in other parts of the world, and especially the United States. Japan has managed to sustain its role as a global superpower by being the second most technologically-advanced nation in the world.
What about Russia? It has a huge nuclear arsenal, bullies its neighbors and asserts its power farther abroad in conflicts like that in Syria. Should we be more concerned? Russia threatens many U. Its economy is smaller than that of Texas and its population will shrink 30 percent over the next thirty years. Russia has no meaningful allies, and it faces NATO, the most powerful alliance in history, on its borders. China and Russia seem to have become united in their opposition to the U.
Will that create a new power balance? Russia and China will never form a genuine alliance. But Russia and China still harm U. For example, both countries have spent billions of dollars on media outlets, NGOs, and hackers aimed at reversing the spread of democracy and subverting U. The two countries also have sanctioned U. Most worrisome, China and Russia could simultaneously start wars with U.
One benefit is security. It is impossible to overstate how lucky Americans are that none of the major battles in any of the wars of the past years were fought in their cities and towns. Another benefit is a large margin of error. With a secure homeland and a peerless economy, the United States can do stupid things over and over again without suffering severe punishment.
Only the United States could engage in a war as dubious as that in Iraq or trigger the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression, and remain the richest and most influential country on the planet and retain the support of more than sixty allies, including most of the major powers.
A related benefit is freedom of action. The United States can decisively involve itself in any region of the world—or not. Most countries have foreign policy priorities thrust upon them. They are too weak to settle issues in their own neighborhoods and have to spend most of their time doing damage control around their borders.
As a superpower, the United States has much more leeway to choose where, how, and on what issues it wants to involve itself. Freedom of action also applies to U. Americans often take for granted that they can travel and do business in many parts of the world using English and dollars and that many international trade and investment rules—and parts of the legal systems of some countries—are based on, if not directly copied from, U.
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