History Main / AllNationsAreSuperpowers

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'': World map is split between several FunWithAcronyms-named superpowers ("Pronounced as a word" type: S.M.A.S.H., H.A.M.M.E.R., etc.; what letters stand for is not explained). They have separate "heat" (grudge gauges), each has its own superagent, and part of villainous ascension involves sowing enough dissent for agents of different superpowers to start attacking each other on sight. Hierarchy of power is present, with geographically-based in Africa and South America superpower being the weakest and spoof Britain with its colonies being the strongest (complete with the peskiest, Film/JamesBond-ripoff superagent).

* The term for this in political science is Multi-Polar System, although that does not quite mean that nations are superpowers ''per se'', just that no one or two nations hold a monopoly on power. A world with two-nation superpowers is known as a Bi-Polar System, ''a la'' the Cold War, whereas a world with a single dominant superpower is known as a Uni-Polar world, ''a la'' the modern world with the United States, which is so powerful it is sometimes promoted to Hyperpower by some commentators. There is a general consensus that we are moving towards a Multi-Polar system again as nations like Brazil, India, Russia and China, and the European Union, gradually become economic centres in their own right, as opposed to the economic dominance of the [=US=], although it will be decades before any of these come close to matching America in military power. A Bi-Polar world between America and China is unlikely since though China's economy is set to rival that of America's in the near future, they are also economically interdependant and though China is arguably the nearest miliary rival, there is still a chasm of difference between the two.

** The tiny African island nation of Genosha ''used to'' be this, at least under ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, due to it being an open haven for the [[ComicBook/XMen mutant species]], meaning the vast majority of its population was comprised of superhumans, a bit of LaserGuidedKarma given that Genosha was formerly home to the worlds largest market for [[FantasticRacism mutant slavery]], and bear in mind Magneto obtained the island because he managed to single-handidly take the entire planets magnetic field hostage and could have caused global catastrophe ''on his own''- the world ''offered it to him''. We say ''used to'' because another ComicBook/XMen villain, Xavier's AxCrazy EvilTwin Cassandra Nova, sent an army of Sentinels to massacre 99.9% of the population, and it is currently an apocalyptic wasteland not really any good to anyone.

In any given show where there is some sort of global conflict, or speculative fiction of any kind, there will most often be [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail only 2-4 countries (or other kinds of sovereign political entities) involved]], and each will be described as a superpower. Often they'll [[SpaceFillingEmpire Space-Filling Empires]], which just by dint of their sheer size have access to proportionally immense/diverse resources of one form or the other that allow them to be superpowers, but some of the superpowers may be really small countries that can [[PintSizedPowerhouse punch far above what their size would imply]] due to some special advantage (e.g. monopolizing a disporportionately powerful/abundant resource), and at the most extreme even factions that aren't sovereign nations may have [[NGOSuperpower superpower-level resources]]; of course, the latter two kinds of "superpowers" are frequently {{Hufflepuff House}}s.

* The world immediately before the First World War came close to resembling this. The entire world was basically divided among a few great powers which held either direct imperial control or exercised effective control via treaties or other methods. These were the United States, the British Empire, the German Empire, the Russian Empire, France, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Japanese Empire, Italy, and Qing China, in roughly that order of power.[[note]]China had a far greater GDP and population than most of these powers, but their backwardness and unequal treaties rendered a lot of their nominal power null.[[/note]] The top three alone controlled nearly two thirds of world GDP between them.

Obviously, this isn't historically accurate; the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, for example, was primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union, at the time the world's sole superpowers, but many other countries that were far smaller and less powerful had a huge stake in the outcome and non-trivial influence, such as those along the Iron Curtain, and places like Latin America and Southeast Asia where communism was making headway. If there are two factions, they will fairly often be TheEmpire and TheFederation, or TheAlliance or TheRepublic, though usually neither is portrayed as "good" in this setup (ala ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', or even ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'').

* ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' has the known galaxy divided between TheEmpire and TheAlliance. Two seemingly minor factions of note ''do'' exist, but even then, one (Fezzan) is the planetary equivalent of a MerchantCity that can punch above its weight class on defense thanks to its stranglehold on the galactic economy, and the other (the Earth Cult) is an NGOSuperpower that specializes in causing chaos through infiltration, sabotage, and assassination.

In any given show where there is some sort of global conflict, or speculative fiction of any kind, there will most often be [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail only 2-4 countries (or other kinds of sovereign political entities) involved]], and each will be described as a superpower. Often they'll [[SpaceFillingEmpire Space-Filling Empires]], which just by dint of their sheer size have access to proportionally immense/diverse resources of one form or the other that allow them to be superpwoers, but some of the superpowers may be really small countries that can [[PintSizedPowerhouse punch far above what their size would imply]] due to some special advantage (e.g. monopolizing a disporportionately powerful/abundant resource), and at the most extreme even factions that aren't sovereign nations may have [[NGOSuperpower superpower-level resources]]; of course, the latter two kinds of "superpowers" are frequently {{Hufflepuff House}}s.

Obviously, this isn't historically accurate; the Cold War, for example, was primarily between the US and the Soviet Union, but many other countries that were far smaller and less powerful had a huge stake in the outcome and non-trivial influence, such as those along the Iron Curtain, and places like Latin America and Southeast Asia where communism was making headway. If there are two factions, they will fairly often be TheEmpire and TheFederation, or TheAlliance or TheRepublic, though usually neither is portrayed as "good" in this setup (ala ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', or even ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'').

In any given show where there is some sort of global conflict, or speculative fiction of any kind, [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail there will most often be only 2-4 countries involved,]] and each will be described as a superpower. Obviously, this isn't historically accurate; the Cold War, for example, was primarily between the US and the Soviet Union, but many other countries had a stake in the outcome (e.g. nations along the Iron Curtain, and places like Latin America and Southeast Asia where communism was making headway). If there are two factions they will fairly often be TheEmpire and TheFederation or TheAlliance or TheRepublic, though usually neither is portrayed as "good" in this setup (ala ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', or even ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''), at its most extreme even factions that aren't sovereign nations may be treated with [[NGOSuperpower Superpower level resources]]. Of course, these "superpowers" are frequently HufflepuffHouse.

See also SpaceFillingEmpire.

** The tiny [[{{Ruritania}} East European country]] of Latveria goes even further- it is considered a superpower pretty much because of the fact it is ruled by Doctor Doom, an even greater EmperorScientist than T'Challa, as well as a SorcerousOverlord, which is so advanced that crime, poverty and disease have been totally eradicated and the country is policed by super-advanced robots of Doom's own design. It is so ridiculously advanced that [=VR=] simulations of a hypothetical war between Latveria and the United States- which bear in mind is even more advanced than its real-life counterpart thanks to a monopoly on superhumans amongst other things- has Lateria win ''every single time''. This might have something to do with the fact that Doom has succesfully conquered the world already. Thrice (at least). And he surrendered it out of ''boredom''.