Topic summary
Major powers
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Great power.
Characteristics
There are no set or defined characteristics of a great power. Analysts have often regarded any such characteristics as empirical, self-evident to the assessor. However, this approach has the disadvantage of subjectivity. As a result, theorists have made attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great-power status. Danilovic (2002) highlights three central characteristics: "power, spatial, and status dimensions", that distinguish major powers from other states. The following discussion on characteristics is extracted from her discussion of these three dimensions, including all of the citations.