Domestic Evidences of Claim for Global Power Status (Comparative Analysis of China and Russia)

This work is devoted to the study of the global powers political phenomenon and their domestic factors that allow countries applying for this status. The first chapter describes the approaches to the definition of global powers their functions and role in the international relations. It also creates the theoretical framework of our research, based on the power transition theory A.F.K. Organski. Within the framework of this theory, we have identified four main groups of factors (territorial, demographic, economic, military, political), the presence or absence of which can be the key factor for the participation of countries in the future transit of power. In the second chapter we examined in detail these factors and concretized the empirical indicators of their growth, the sample of which is mainly based on the work of E. Fels. The approach of E. Fels is to consider the indicators of the particular group not in a separate, but in the aggregate form. The third and final chapter is devoted to the comparative analysis of the internal claims of China and Russia for the status of a global group of factors using empirical data collected for 2010-2017. China and Russia have been chosen as subjects of comparison, since both countries are currently pursuing an active foreign policy and are in open confrontation with the United States, which can be called a dominant country. In addition, the US response to the political actions of China and Russia (the trade war between China and the United States, anti-Russian economic sanctions and statements about Russian interference in the American elections) also emphasizes the scale of these countries.