Changing patterns of power Flashcards
What is a unipolar world?
A world with a single dominant superpower such as the British empire from the 1600s until 1945.
What allowed the British Empire to become a superpower?
Britain exerted colonial control over other nation, exploiting their people for cheap raw materials and ;providing a ready market for British made goods. Wealth was returned to the motherland resulting in rapid economic development in Britain.
The British Empire installed railways such as 61,000km rail network to moves its military forces and move goods. Additionally, many colonized countries adopted parts of British culture. For example countries in the west Indies play cricket and many former colonies still speak English - this has an influence on commerce and the outsourcing of services to this day.
What is a bipolar world?
A world containing 2 superpowers with opposing ideologies compete for dominance such as The USA and USSR during the Cold War.
How did the USSR maintain superpower status during the cold war?
Soviet forces took over Eastern European countries who were suffering and vulnerable following the Second World War. They installed communist governments in these “Soviet Satellite States”. All party leader had to be approved by the Kremlin. Counties which didn’t comply with the Soviet style of communism were dealt with. This resulted in invasion of Budapest following the Hungarian uprising in 1956 and invasion of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring of 1968. The USSR formed COM con (the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance) to improve economic strength in soviet satellite states to increase the level of production of soviet goods. They aslo formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955 - a military alliance between Soviet states.
How did the USA maintain super power status during the Cold War?
Formed NATO in 1949, if any country declared war on any NATO member they had declared war on the entire alliance. Provided aid to countries at risk of falling to communism following the second World War under the Marshall plan, this included the Greece and turkey Adi Bill Act, to contain communism and limit prevent the Soviet union becoming too powerful.
What is a multipower world ?
A world where many powers and emerging powers compete for dominance. for example during the Second World War.
What is Neocolonialism?
The use of indirect control over developing countries. This is done in many ways including:
Offering loans with high interest debt
Tied aid (developed nations agree to provide aid as long as the recipient agrees to purchase a certain volume of goods from the aid provider or has control over how the aid is spent)
Poor terms of trade - for example, developed nations exploit countries for raw or part processed materials. The developed nation then refines the raw materials to manufacture a value added good which it sells for profit.
Brain drain - the most intelligent and skilled workers in less developed nations may migrate from their countries to pursue a higher quality life (higher pay, higher quality education and healthcare etc) xc
The geo political stability of different patterns of power
In theory, a uni-polar world should be very stable as no single country can challenge the hegenomous country for global dominance. This has led the USA to act as a world-police, intervening with foreign policies however many have argued that this has only intensified conflicts - reducing stability. Global security is also dependent on the superpower nation. (e.g an unstable dominant superpower means an unstable world)
Despite the obvious risk of a bipolar world (shown by the world being on the verge of nuclear war following the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s) the potential for mutually assured destruction between the 2 superpowers may result in preventative peace as shown by nuclear disarmament under SALT talks.
A multipolar world is generally considered the least stable as there are many competing powers with different ideologies - potentially leading to conflicts between powers. If one country were to lose its power, it would create a power vacuum - increasing competition this may result in former alliances being fragmented.
