Great power A great power is a state that is recognized as having the ability to exert its influence on a global scale . Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength , as well as diplomatic and soft power influence , which may cause small powers to consider the great powers ' opinions before taking actions of their own . International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities , spatial aspects , and status dimensions . Sometimes the status of great powers is formally recognized in conferences such as the Congress of Vienna or an international structure such as the United Nations Security Council . The term " great power " was first used to represent the most important powers in Europe during the post - Napoleonic era . The " Great Powers " constituted the " Concert of Europe " and claimed the right to joint enforcement of the postwar treaties . The formalization of the division between small powers and great powers came about with the signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814 . Since then , the international balance of power has shifted numerous times , most dramatically during World War I and World War II . While some nations are widely considered to be great powers , there is no definitive list of them . Alternative terms for great powers are world powers or major powers . Characteristics . There are no set or defined characteristics of a great power . These characteristics have often been treated as empirical , self - evident to the assessor . However , this approach has the disadvantage of subjectivity . As a result , there have been attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great power status . 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 . " Later writers have expanded this test , attempting to define power in terms of overall military , economic , and political capacity . Kenneth Waltz , the founder of the neorealist theory of international relations , uses a set of five criteria to determine great power : population and territory ; resource endowment ; economic capability ; political stability and competence ; and military strength . These expanded criteria can be divided into three heads : power capabilities , spatial aspects , and status . Power dimensions . As noted above , for many , power capabilities were the sole criterion . However , even under the 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 . " This differed from earlier writers , notably from Leopold von Ranke , who clearly had a different idea of the world situation . In his essay ' The Great Powers ' , 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 . " These positions have been the subject of criticism . Spatial dimension . 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 ' . " 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 propositions which are often closely connected . Status dimension . Formal or informal acknowledgment of a nation ' s great - power status has also been a criterion for being 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 . " This approach restricts analysis to the post - Congress of Vienna epoch ; it being there that 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 . A further option is to examine a state ' s willingness to act as a great power . As a nation 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 political and diplomatic questions of the day , and have influence on the final outcome and resolution . Historically , when major political questions were addressed , several great powers met to discuss them . Before the era of groups like the United Nations , participants of such meetings were not officially named , but were decided based on their great power status . These were conferences which settled important questions based on major historical events . This might mean deciding the political resolution of various geographical and nationalist claims following a major conflict , or other contexts . There are several historical conferences and treaties which display this pattern , such as the Congress of Vienna , the Congress of Berlin , the discussions of the Treaty of Versailles which redrew the map of Europe , and the Treaty of Westphalia . History . Different sets of great , or significant , powers have existed throughout history ; however , the term " great power " has only been used in scholarly or diplomatic discourse since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 . 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 , in a letter sent on February 13 , 1814 : " It affords me great satisfaction to acquaint you that 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 : the Austrian Empire , France , Prussia , Russia , and the United Kingdom . These five primary participants constituted the original great powers as we know the term today . Other powers , such as Spain , Portugal , and Sweden were consulted on certain specific issues , but they were not full participants . Hanover , Bavaria , and Württemberg were also consulted on issues relating to Germany . Of the five original great powers recognised at the Congress of Vienna , only France and the United Kingdom have maintained that status continuously to the present day , although France was defeated in the Franco - Prussian War and occupied during World War II . After the Congress of Vienna , the British Empire emerged as the pre - eminent power , due to its navy and the extent of its territories , which signalled the beginning of the Pax Britannica and of The Great Game between Britain and Russia . 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 . " 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 . Some , such as the United Kingdom and Prussia ( as part of the newly formed German state ) , experienced continued economic growth and political power . Others , such as Russia and Austria - Hungary , stagnated . At the same time , other states were emerging and expanding in power , largely through the process of industrialization . The foremost of these emerging powers were Japan after the Meiji Restoration and the United States after its civil war , both of which had been minor powers in 1815 . By the dawn of the 20th century the balance of world power had changed substantially since the Congress of Vienna . The Eight - Nation Alliance was a belligerent alliance of eight nations against 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 20th century . Great powers at war . Shifts of international power have most notably occurred through major conflicts . The conclusion of the Great War and the resulting treaties of Versailles , St - Germain , and Trianon witnessed the United Kingdom , France , Italy , Japan and the United States as the chief arbiters of the new world order . In the aftermath of World War I the German Empire was defeated , the Austria - Hungarian empire was divided into new , less powerful states and the Russian Empire fell to a revolution . During the Treaty of Versailles the " Big Three " — France , United Kingdom and the United States — held noticeably more power and influence on the proceedings and outcome of the treaty than Italy or Japan . The victorious great powers also gained an acknowledgement of their status through 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 , left because the US Senate voted on 19 March 1920 against the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles , thus preventing American participation in the League . When World War II started in 1939 , it divided the world into two alliances — the Allies ( the United Kingdom and France at first , followed in 1941 by the Soviet Union , the United States , and China ) ; and the Axis powers consisting of Germany , Italy and Japan . The end of World War II saw the United States , United Kingdom , and Soviet Union emerge as the primary victors . The importance of the Republic of China and France was acknowledged by their inclusion , along with the other three , 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 . Fox and according to him , there were three superpowers : the British Empire , the United States , and the Soviet Union . But by the mid - 1950s the British Empire lost its superpower status , leaving the United States and the Soviet Union as the world ' s superpowers . 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 power s are those whose influence is generally confined to their region of the world . During the Cold War , the Asian power of Japan and the European powers of the United Kingdom , France , and West Germany rebuilt their economies . France and the United Kingdom maintained technologically advanced armed forces with power projection capabilities and maintain large defence 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 statuses as great powers . 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 . Aftermath of the Cold War . China , France , Russia , the United Kingdom and the United States are referred to as great powers . These five nations are the only states to have permanent seats with veto power on the UN Security Council . They are also the recognized " Nuclear Weapons States " under the Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty , and have the five largest military expenditures in the world . After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , its UN Security Council permanent seat was transferred to the Russian Federation in 1991 , as its 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 ( although some support a multipolar world view ) . However , there is no unanimous agreement among authorities as to the current status of these powers or what precisely defines a " great " power . Sources have at times referred to China , France , the United Kingdom , < ref name = " European Security After 9 / 11 ' " > according to P . Shearman , M . Sussex , " European Security After 9 / 11 " , Ashgate , 2004 , both UK and France were global powers now reduced to middle - power status . < / ref > and Russia as middle powers . Japan and Germany are sometimes classified as middle powers . However , they are also included among the great powers , due to their economic status ( having the third and fourth largest economies respectively ) , despite their lack of permanent seats and veto power on the UN Security Council or strategic military reach . Emerging powers . With continuing European integration , the European Union is increasingly being seen as a great power in its own right , with representation at the WTO and at G8 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 . The European Union is a supranational union and not a sovereign state , and has limited scope in the areas of foreign affairs and defense policy . These remain largely with the member states of the European Union , which include the three great powers of France , Germany and the United Kingdom ( referred to as the " EU three " ) . Brazil and India are widely regarded as countries with the potential to be great powers . Academics , such as Zbigniew Brzezinski , Stephen P . Cohen and others regard India as a major or great power . 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 . There are however few signs that reform of the Security Council will happen in the near future . Hierarchy of Great powers . Acclaimed political scientist , geo - strategist , and former United States National Security Advisor , Zbigniew Brzezinski , appraised the current standing of the great powers in his book " " . In relation to great powers , he makes the following points :