EQ1: What are superpowers and how have they changed over time? TB

Question 1

What is a superpower?

Answer 1

A superpower is a nation, or group or nations, with a leading position in international politics.

Question 2

What percentage of all financial transactions are in US dollars?

Answer 2

80 per cent

Question 3

What percentage of global military spending does the USA’s military spending account for?

Answer 3

37 per cent

Question 4

What are the six characteristics of superpowers?

Answer 4

• Economic
• Political
• Military
• Cultural
• Demographic
• Access to resources

Question 5

What are the three main features of soft power?

Answer 5

• History - British universities, culture - Commonwealth, common-law legal approach, City of London
• Culture - BBC, English is the most widely spoken language after Mandarin, knowledge management
• Diplomacy - the UK has one of the largest networks of embassies and high commissions.

Question 6

What are the two major aspects of hard power?

Answer 6

• Military power

- Economic power

Question 7

Why was the term ‘geopolitics’ avoided for many decades?

Answer 7

The association of geopolitics with physical geography (a form of environmental determinism) in Nazi Germany and the colonial powers meant that the term ‘geopolitics’ was avoided for many decades.

Question 8

What were the three components that Halford Mackinder believed that the world was divided into?

Answer 8

1. The World Island
2. Offshore islands
3. Outlying islands

Question 9

What percentage of the world’s resources did the Heartland contain?

Answer 9

50 per cent

Question 10

Give two reasons why the idea of empire was now being questioned?

Answer 10

• Increasing agitation in Ireland for home rule since the close of the 19th century had led to a guerrilla war against British rule.
• People in other countries also showed dissatisfaction and declared independence, including Egypt, Australia and South Africa.

The First World War - the growth of the US and Japanese naval power
Cultural frictions

Question 11

Why were the IMF and World Bank set up at the beginning of the neocolonial period?

Answer 11

Provide aid to developing countries - ‘structural adjustment programmes’ - pro-Western democracies

Question 12

In 2010 what percentage of Chinese imports were mineral products from Africa?

Answer 12

80 per cent

Question 13

What were the two new financial institutions that the BRICS announced they would create by July 2014?

Answer 13

• The New Development Bank (NDP)

- ‘Contingent Reserve Arrangement’ (CRA)

Question 14

When was the term MINT first used?

Answer 14

2011