Concept information
Preferred term
superpower
Definition
- International relations as a field of study has traditionally been defined as a science whose primary purpose has been to explain the behavior of states operating in an anarchic world where power—usually measured in terms of economic resources, military strength, and moral influence—has always been unevenly spread among its various units. How to measure power, the uses to which power is put, how states acquire and lose it, and what impact its unequally distributed character has on relations between states in the wider international system have been central issues discussed by scholars of international relations ever since Thucydides wrote his classic History of the Peloponnesian War in the 4th century BCE. Measuring the power of states has, of necessity, created its own taxonomy. [Source: International Encyclopedia of Political Science; Superpower]
Broader concept
Belongs to group
URI
https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/superpower
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