TOP 10 HIGHEST POERED military forces in the world

For many years, military or hard power was widely considered the primary source of a state’s power. However, towards the end of the cold war, economic power took over. A prevalent narrative about the ‘end of history,’ combined with a decrease in military confrontations, led to a belief—or hope—that wars would largely be a thing of the past.

But military power is back, says Ulrike Franke, Senior Policy Fellow of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Military confrontations, including those between great powers, have re-entered Western Europeans’ collective imagination following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Global military expenditure has risen steadily in the last two decades, and, last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, it amounted to almost two trillion dollars. US military expenditure alone accounted for an estimated thirty-nine percent of this.

Looking at the world’s strongest military forces, one sees that the two arch-rivals are the same as in the times of the Cold War, with China emerging as a third player, but with unclear geopolitical intentions.