Economic & political tensions in Asia & the Middle east Flashcards

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1
Q

What has change the geopolitical power of the Asian region?

A

Globalisation and the global shift

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2
Q

How is the economic centre of gravity calculated?

A

taking the GDP from 700 locations and then plotting them to find an average by location

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3
Q

What was Earths economic centre of gravity in 1ce?

A

relatively stable around the Middle east until the 1800’s

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4
Q

Why was the global economic centre of gravity relatively stable until 1ce?

A

people lived on subsistence incomes

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5
Q

What led to a shift in economic centre of gravity? (to the west)

A

subsistent industrialisation and urbanisation of Europe and US causing a massive shift towards EU and US

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6
Q

What helped to change the direction of the global economic shift? (to the east)

A

rise of japan changed the direction particularly in 1980’s

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7
Q

When did the fastest rate of change in the global economic balance occur?

A

first decade of the new millennium

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8
Q

How much did the economic centre of gravity shift per annum back toward Asia in the 2000’s?

A

140km per annum 30% greater then after the period of ww2

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9
Q

Why are emerging countries playing an expanding role in FDI?

A

because there is a reversal of FDI from emerging into developed countries

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10
Q

How fast is china urbanising?

A

scale 100 times that of Britain and at 10 times the speed of that in the 18th century

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11
Q

Who is partly funding the Hinkley project?

A

partly financed by chinses company CGN (Nuclear power plant 3rd generation)

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12
Q

How much chinses investment does the ABP royal albert dock bring in?

A

£1.7billion

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13
Q

What decisions by Tata (Indian company)was greeted with relief?

A

decision to reduce cuts to UK steel planys in port Talbot

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14
Q

What strategy did China develop in 2013?(trade)

A

one belt one road

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15
Q

What is the Aim of one belt one road?

A

aims to increase connectivity between china, Eurasia and Africa

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16
Q

What does China want to do with its trade?

A

build a cohesive and economic area to increase trade and cultural exchange

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17
Q

How much does china plan on investing in Pakistan?

A

$46 billion

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18
Q

What will china do with the silk road in Pakistan?

A

reinventation of the silk road that will pass through central Asian republic and then to Europe

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19
Q

What does CPEC stand for?

A

China Pakistan Economic Corridor

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20
Q

What is the aim CPEC?

A

Connect China to Gwadar in Pakistan a deep water port operated by china

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21
Q

What will the corridor (CPEC) in Myanmar give china access to?

A

Bay of Bengal

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22
Q

What will the sea segment of the new silk road provide? (for asian ports)

A

Increased connectivity

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23
Q

What does the maritime silk road aim to do?

A

Link Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh

24
Q

Why is China investing in the middle east?

A

Uses surplus funds of china
Open up new markets
Currently china depends excessively on sea route via Singapore for trade
Alternative sea routes and secures existing sea lines

25
Q

Why are India opposing the Chinese investment in the middle east?

A

CPEC passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir
China protested when India engaged in offshore exploration with Vietnam (contested EEZ area)
China gets leverage in Bay of Bengal in India’s back yard

26
Q

What are the troubles faced in the middle east?

A

frequently experiences tension and conflicts

27
Q

What doesn’t help the conflicts in the middle east?

A

alliances that some western states have in the middle east

28
Q

What alliances are there in the middle east? (involving powerful or western nations)

A

USA and Israel
Russia, China, Iran and Syria

29
Q

What alliances are in the middle east? (between middle eastern nations)

A

Iran/Syria alliance (USSR, China support)
Western alliance (Egypt, Jordon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Israel, Lebanon Turkey)

30
Q

What conflicts are there in the middle east?

A

Isis controlled region south Syria
Turkish, Kurd conflict (south east turkey)
Afghanistan war
Yemen civil war
Israel Palestine war

31
Q

What is the problem with western nations steeping into Middle Eastern conflicts?

A

Make conflicts worse or last longer by continuing to provide aid to allies

32
Q

What is the messy mosaic?

A

A diagram that shows how all the countries are linked in the Middle East and who is friendly with who

33
Q

Where is an example of resource abundance being a curse?

A

Niger

34
Q

How can resource abundance be a curse?

A

As when a country has a super valuable resource and a corrupt government they will neglect their duties for health care and education and obsess over the resource

35
Q

What has led to tensions in the Lebanon?

A

The 18 different religions/ ethnicities
War in surrounding nations
Civil war (150,000 dead)
Terrorist group in parliament and cabinet (hasbullah)
Not had a president since 2017
1 million Syria and 1/2 million Palestinian refugees

36
Q

What are the 2 main forms of Islam?

A

Sunni
Shia

37
Q

Why are their tensions between the Shia and Sunni?

A

They both wish to be in power But don’t want the other to be in power
Express their faith in different ways

38
Q

What extremist group is causing further destabilisation of the Middle East?

A

IS- Islamic state

39
Q

What are some other names for IS?

A

ISIS- Islamic state in Syria
ISIL- Islamic state in Libya
Daesh- rude term in Arabic

40
Q

Who are IS?

A

A jihadist terrorist group that rose during the 2013 civil war in Syria their aim is to create a highly conservative Islamic state

41
Q

Who has IS waged war against?

A

All non-Muslims (salafism)

42
Q

What issues are Turkey facing?

A

Fighting a low level civil war against the Kurds who want their own Kurdish state

43
Q

Why will the Kurds struggle to create Kurdistan?

A

Kurdistan lies on the borders of 5 existing countries and also over large oil reserves

44
Q

Why can Turkey not fully engage with the Kurds?

A

As the Kurds are all fighting IS which Turkey are also against due to being in NATO and the western alliance

45
Q

What has led to a deterioration of Russias conflict with Ukraine and support of Syria and Iraq?

A

Bombings by USA, UK and France in 2014 meaning supporting Russia who supports Assad are struggle to maintain grip and power in the area (cant split resources)

46
Q

Why are superpowers so invested in the Middle East?

A

Conflicts
Oil
Culture

47
Q

Why are conflicts keeping superpowers in the Middle East?

A

Conflicts in the Middle East supported by opposing regimes e.g China or Russia keep adding military tension (don’t want their culture to seem weak)

48
Q

Why does Oil keep superpowers in the Middle East?

A

Middle East is worlds largest oil producer (80%) worry for west that if ISIS, Taliban or unfriendly states control it they could starve the west

49
Q

How does culture keep superpowers in the Middle East?

A

Prevention of extremist Islamic ideals (anti western)

50
Q

What are the religious causes of instability in the Middle East?

A

Most of the region is Muslim but there are 2 key sects Sunni and Shia
Sunni (Saudi Arabia & UAE) and Shia (Iran) sects are in conflict with each other, both within and between countries

51
Q

How do resources cause instability in the Middle East? (water)

A

Conflict over land and water common- averaged water access is 1000m3/yr with international threshold 1700m3/yr (water scarce)
Although rich in fossil fuels, the region is short of water & farmland

52
Q

How is oil & gas a cause of instability in the Middle East?

A

65% of the worlds crude oil exports originate in the region
Oil & gas reserves have long been a prize worth fighting for

53
Q

How are the youth a cause for instability in the Middle East?

A

There is potential for the young adults to become disaffected and to look towards political or military groups
Many countries have young populations with high unemployment & low education levels (most likely to riot about being unhappy/ unable to change)

54
Q

What are disaffected youth in the Middle East likely to do?

A

Let down by the system and become more likely to join terrorist groups

55
Q

How is governance in the Middle East cause for instability?

A

Democracy is either weak or non-existent; religious & ethnic allegiances are often stronger than national identity ones
Artificial boundaries have caused groups to disclaim/ argue that many governments are illegitimate hence frequent civil wars

56
Q

How is history causing instability in the Middle East?

A

Most of the countries are relatively new states, at least in their current form (lack of population connection due to lack of history) i.e. Saudi Arabia is only 106 years old
Many international borders in the region are arbitrary- drawn by colonial powers & do not reflect the geography of religious/ cultural groups