Hyperpower

A hyperpower or omnipower is a state that is militarily, economically, and technologically dominant on the world stage. The term was first used to describe the United States in the 1990s, but has also been applied (retroactively), to earlier entities such as the British Empire, the Spanish Empire. The Roman Empire, the Mongol Empire, and Ancient Egypt are considered to have been examples of ancient hyperpowers.

Origin

After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, some political commentators felt that a new term was needed to describe the United States' position as the lone superpower. Ben Wattenberg coined the term "omnipower" in 1990 and Peregrine Worsthorne used the term "hyper-power" on June 8, 1991. French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine popularized the term "hyperpower" in his various criticisms of the United States beginning in 1998.

Popular Culture

• Nine Inch Nails named the first track of their politically inspired album Year Zero "Hyperpower". The concept album is set in a near-future dystopian United States.

See also

• Americanization
• American Empire
• British Empire
• Hegemony
• Megacorporation
• Pax Americana
• Pax Britannica
• Pax Romana
• Pax Hispanica
• Spanish Empire
• Superpower
• Westernization

References

• "To Paris, U.S. Looks Like a 'Hyperpower'", The International Herald Tribune, February 5, 1999, retrieved August 20, 2006
• "Lonely Superpower or Unapologetic Hyperpower? Analyzing American Power in the Post-Cold War Era", "Paper for presentation at the biennial meetings of the South African Political Studies Association Saldanha, Western Cape 29 June-2 July 1999", retrieved February 28, 2007
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    • Védrine, Hubert. France in an Age of Globalization, Brookings Institution Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8157-0007-5

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