Comparative Indicators of National Power

These charts document objective indicators that pertain to the relative potential power of eighteen world states.   Examine them closely.  Exact figures are available at the sources listed.

Key: In these charts PRC means China; JA = Japan; FRG = Germany; FR = France; UK = the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; RU = Russia; IN = India; PAK = Pakistan; IRI = the Islamic Republic of Iran; IQ = Iraq; MX = Mexico; TK = Turkey; INA = Indonesia; NK = North Korea; SK = South Korea; BR = Brazil; and AR = Argentina.

These charts, overall, tend to support the characterization of the distribution of power in the contemporary world as a Unipolar System, in which the USA possesses the power potential to be the predominant actor.

source: CIA Factbook of the Countries of the World, 1998
Available:  http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

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source of above: CIA Factbook of the Countries of the World, 1998
Available:  http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

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source: IMF, Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook (1998)

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source of above: IMF, Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook (1998)

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source of above: CIA Factbook of the Countries of the World, 1998
Available:  http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

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source : US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency: World Military Expenditures and Arms Transactions (1998).

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 source: International Monetary Fund, "Appendix VII: Executive Directors and Voting Power. IMF Annual Report for1998." Available: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/ar/98/g/pdf/file09g.pdf

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source: The United Nations