Middle power

As a means state, sometimes means power, a state is referred to, which is too large to be considered a small state, but also too small or too weak to be a ( global or regional ) great power.

The name means power is rarely used because it is misleading. The allied in World War superpowers Germany and Austria - Hungary are collectively referred to as the Central Powers. The agent here refers to the geographical situation in Central Europe, not to the size of the states.

As the distinction between a small state and dwarf state is also the distinction between a small state and central government not fixed, just to great power. In particular, a State may on a global scale be a means of state, regional but play a similar role superpower, which is the case in Egypt in the Middle East, Indonesia in Southeast Asia and Brazil in South America.

Historically, the term means the state is mainly used in German history during the dualism between Prussia and Austria to the medium-sized German States Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria to denote etc., which are sometimes grouped together as the "Third Germany ".

Current discussion

With the increasing influence of the Federal Republic of Germany on the international policy since the accession of the GDR to the West German Basic Law in 1990, the concept of a middle power was used again, but in terms of medium-sized power.

In particular, the former SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder used this term to define the role of enlarged Federal Republic of Germany again. Other industrialized countries such as Canada and Japan are classified as distinct from classical hegemony or superpower as the Central Powers, in contrast to the U.S. superpower. ().

• Political Geography
• State Model