After the Cold War, the most common belief held that only the UnitedStates fulfilled the criteria to be considered a superpower,[2] although it is a matter of debate whether it is a hegemon or if it is a besieged global power.[3] The European Union, India[4] People's Republic of China, and Russia are also thought to have the potential of achieving superpower status within the 21st century.[5]Others doubt the existence of superpowers in the post Cold War eraaltogether, stating that today's complex global marketplace and therising interdependency between the world's nations has made the conceptof a superpower an idea of the past and that the world is now..