Why are superpowers so massive? Is this a size requirement? And is Pakistan too small to aspire to this goal? or any muslim nation for that matter.

[villageidiot]

UK: am i a joke to you?

Answer: Yes. Sorry Brits, you lost the plot (literally) a long time ago.

No touching, as Mary Magdalene advised: "Touch me not" a long time ago.

Okay. I had to google that one.

 

[N.Siddiqui]

US landmass is about 12 times the size of Pakistan, almost same with China.

Here Alaska, the largest US state included.

The Russia landmass is huge but certainly not as big as shown in maps comparitve to other countries.

Pakistan is not that small and equals Germany, Italy, UK combined in landmass.

 

[HGV]

UK: am i a joke to you?

UK is not a superpower by any measure. Worst performing advanced economy, terrible politicians, horrible long-term prospects, very weak military.

 

[Baburfromsarmarkand]

UK is not a superpower by any measure. Worst performing advanced economy, terrible politicians, horrible long-term prospects, very weak military.

I think Pakistan has more chance of being a super power than any European nation. Our army alone is larger than any Euro army.

 

[Erieye]

I think Pakistan has more chance of being a super power than any European nation. Our army alone is larger than any Euro army.

You need an economy to sustain that. Superpower is both economy, military and foreign non-kinetic influence

 

[glablo]

China was the largest and most advanced nation for thousands of years and the only one in human history to rise like a phoenix no matter how many times it was destroyed.
The U.S., an evil nation founded by stealing the richest continent on earth from its indigenous peoples in its entirety, was naturally a colossal force to be reckoned with.
The Soviet Union is the only exception, having only a poor and cold territory, a small population, and not as many resources as the U.S., which were dug out in the extreme cold with enormous effort.
One can see it as a phantom of the old industrial age, when planned economies worked, but another aspect is that the Soviet Union was a technological powerhouse.
If Pakistan could learn anything, it would be the Soviet case.

The real strength of China is its scientific power and the power of its culture, which has swallowed up invaders of any kind.
However, China is a special case, and even if a less developed country educates its people, it will not be able to create a country like China.
The Soviet Union is almost the only example of an essentially poor country that rose to great power through hard work.

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

It's a question of leadership and ambition.

The leading establishments of every superpower had people who wanted to compete globally, remove borders, and shape other people's thoughts, actions, behavior, etc.

Pakistani leaders don't have such ambition. Rather, everything they've done up to this point suggests that they follow the lead of elites from outside superpowers.

You can call it treachery, serving a new Raj, etc, but at the end of the day, this type of "leadership" doesn't create superpowers. So, rationally speaking, these rulers have to be gone for you to have ambitious leadership.

 

[Tempest]

Education.and technology combined with.natural resources And then visionary leaders and positive disciplined culture will make great future powers..

large population. can actually be a hindrance not a strength.

 

[Abid123]

UK: am i a joke to you?

Yes it's a joke. Today the UK is nothing more than a vassal state of the US. It used to control half the world less than a century ago.

 

[HGV]

I think Pakistan has more chance of being a super power than any European nation. Our army alone is larger than any Euro army.

There are many facets to being a superpower. Soft and hard power. European nations like the UK and France have huge soft power in ways other nations like India, Brazil, Mexico, Iran, Saudi, etc can never hope to have by virtue of their crystallised role in the post-WW2 global order (e.g. in the UNSC).

 

[Kaniska]

I don't think Pakistan will ever become developed country let alone a super power. Not because our country is small but because we are a nation comprised mostly of corrupt and selfish thieves who always put their personal interest above the interests of our nation. I would go so far to say we never became a nation, we just got a country. Whatever the reasons might have been. We are a fragmented group of mob, divided on the basis of caste, ethnicity, colour, race even business interests. The driving force behind a common Pakistani today is Jealousy and hatred, towards everyone who he thinks is progressing or is better than him. You don't have to look far to realise this, just take a look around you, neighbours, family, friends, colleagues. I speak about the majority. The few good people left stay quite and in the shadows.

On a lighter note, Pakistan and their future generations start making their future by looking towards people like your scientist like Dr. Abdul Sattar and many others than any ISI generals, your nation will truly make a course correction to the future...

You will not find any country in our generation which is successful but the military is preferred over doctors, engineers, and scientists.

 

[dBSPL]

Much has been written under the heading: dynamic population, wise leaders, education and technology, size of territory, nuclear deterrance, military weaponry, etc. I think that all of these factors are not the cause, but the accelerator of the process leading to the point where the cause has reached.

So you can have some or even all of these qualities and not become a superpower. I think that the concept of superpower, more traditionally called 'global empires', is much deeper than that. But even it is not enough, in trying to understand this concept, it is also necessary to understand the global elites in the shadow of states.

Even leaving aside the issue of these elites, the basic conditions for the legitimacy of empires are necessary. First and foremost, global empires are the protector and guardian of a religion, an ideology or a worldview on earth. Their state is the state of God, or the state of a world without God. You don't have to go back to the Crusaders and the Christian-Muslim wars, basically the Communism-Capitalism war reflects a similar situation. Two empires fighting for sovereignty and the patronage of their subjects. The empire that championed Capitalism was the USA and the empire that trying to patronage Comunism was the USSR. These two ideologies have clashed in more than 50 different countries of the world last century, some of which have seen revolutions/military coups and popular uprisings, and some of which have even been subjected to de facto occupation.

That is, superpowers have in common that they offer the world a vision and a path, or are the globally recognized guardians of one of these paths. This legitimacy globalizes their political influence.

 

[TheSolution]

India next superpooper

For Pakistan, a country where people are loyal to their tribes and Bradri cannot achieve that status...where government is unable to govern them should try becoming a proper country first.

Facts, too divided and backwards.

Pakistan's current goal should just be stabilising the country because right now, especially KPK/Balochistan are not stable at all.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The U.S., an evil nation founded by stealing the richest continent on earth from its indigenous peoples in its entirety,

LOL! There's 35 countries in the Americas with a billion people.

Tell us which of the 35 somehow didn't steal the land?

As for evil..most East Asians are actually pointing at Japan as an evil nation with people not even half as smart as the Chinese, who haven't done anything great compared to the Chinese, are effeminate wimps, and who all deserve a painful death for WW2. Meanwhile Westerners tend to look at the Japanese as contributing much to the world and we can forgive their Imperial past and never use any kind of slander.

What would say to all of them in response to that?

 

[Bouncer]

Much has been written under the heading: dynamic population, wise leaders, education and technology, size of territory, nuclear deterrance, military weaponry, etc. I think that all of these factors are not the cause, but the accelerator of the process leading to the point where the cause has reached.

So you can have some or even all of these qualities and not become a superpower. I think that the concept of superpower, more traditionally called 'global empires', is much deeper than that. But even it is not enough, in trying to understand this concept, it is also necessary to understand the global elites in the shadow of states.

Even leaving aside the issue of these elites, the basic conditions for the legitimacy of empires are necessary. First and foremost, global empires are the protector and guardian of a religion, an ideology or a worldview on earth. Their state is the state of God, or the state of a world without God. You don't have to go back to the Crusaders and the Christian-Muslim wars, basically the Communism-Capitalism war reflects a similar situation. Two empires fighting for sovereignty and the patronage of their subjects. The empire that championed Capitalism was the USA and the empire that trying to patronage Comunism was the USSR. These two ideologies have clashed in more than 50 different countries of the world last century, some of which have seen revolutions/military coups and popular uprisings, and some of which have even been subjected to de facto occupation.

That is, superpowers have in common that they offer the world a vision and a path, or are the globally recognized guardians of one of these paths. This legitimacy globalizes their political influence.

This is the answer. All empires and super powers had/have an ideology to protect/project. The day we Pakistanis find our ideology and are convinced about is the day we start getting out of this mess.