The Oxford dictionary defines superpower as:
A very powerful and influential nation (used especially with reference to the US and the Soviet Union while these are perceived as the two most powerful nations in the world).
For the purposes of the term influence, I see it as two of them. China can fall into that category along with India with it’s population and nuclear capacity. But influence doesn’t have to be world wide, so a lot of countries with some type of power can come close.
Our world is getting closer together when it comes to capacity as many smaller countries, like South Korea, now have nuclear capacity thanks chiefly to the US, Russia, and China. Are they a superpower. Not yet. And they can’t even feed themselves yet. But from every little acorn a mighty oak grows. Time will tell how much influence they have on Japan and us in the Pacific.
rwood
“...Superpower : A very powerful and influential nation “
Russia doesn’t meet either of the two prerequisites of that particular definition.
Power is a complex term. Economically...GDP of France, Politically....largely isolated by modern nations, military...they come close only due to nuclear weapons, but they have no Carriers or serious force projection nor the basing and logistics to maintain projection.
Influence: Russia is ostracized and largely isolated so it has marginal influence and mostly with small nations that fear it and rogue nations like Syria, Iran and NKorea. *In fact, most former Soviet coerced allies want to move away, and have moved away from Russia.