The first measure of military spending shows USA leading with $711 billion in 2012 – approximately 43% of global military expenditure - $568 billion more than China. This measure is useful as it can show who has military superiority and therefore who has the ability to act as a global enforcer or peacekeeper. It can also be used to show which countries have the ability to use hard power to protect themselves and areas or other countries of interest. The level of military expenditure can also relate to the level of military technology a country possesses. For example, each country on the table are in possession of nuclear weaponry. Similarly, the USA, as the highest military spender, has 11 aircraft carriers compared to China who only has one. Overall, this is a good method of measuring superpower status. However, the data provided by this measure is distorted due to the exchange rate mechanism, it would be better if purchasing power parity was used instead.
The measure of Olympic medals (2012) shows the USA at the top with a total of 104 medals, 46 of which were gold. This measure is beneficial, although arguably less so than the others, as it can show a countries ability to fund Olympic sport programmes whereby representative have access to some of the finest training and equipment in the world. It could potentially show the size of a population as it could be argued that the larger the population the more choice of representatives you are likely to have. Participation in the Olympics can result in a spread of culture. For example, basketball originated in the USA but is now played worldwide as a result of the Olympics. Also, upon seeing USA and China do so well in the Olympics other countries may attempt to imitate their practises which could result in cultural diffusion. Olympic medals can be utilised to measure superpower status to an extent but there are