EQ2- What are the impacts of superpowers on the global economy, political systems and the physical environment?

Question 1

how do superpowers influence the economy?

Answer 1

by promoting free trade and capitalism through IGO’s like the World Bank, IMF, WTO and the World economic forum

Question 2

what do the World Bank do?

Answer 2

lends money to developing and emerging economies to promote economic development

Question 3

what does the WTO do?

Answer 3

aims to ensure free global trade and opportunities for all countries by removing barriers to international trade

Question 4

what does the WEF (world economic forum do)?

Answer 4

promotes public-private co-operation. Meets every year with politicians, delegates, economists etc. acts as a forum for discussion between businesses, politicians and IGO’s

Question 5

what are the two types of TNC’s?

Answer 5

publicly traded TNC’s : owned by various shareholders generally pensions funds and banks (e.g Apple, tesco)
State-owned TNC’s: owned by the government (e.g bank of china)

Question 6

how have TNC’s arguably become more dominant and influential than IGO’s?

Answer 6

• ability to borrow money has led them to invest in new technology
• move towards capitalism across the world has opened up new opportunities for them

Question 7

what intellectual property laws protect new research and developments carried out by TNC’s and governments?

Answer 7

Patents for technologies and systems
copyright for music, books and artwork
trademarks for designs like logos

Question 8

how do property protection laws create inequality

Answer 8

e.g patents

nations like Ghana for instance can’t afford patented products such as medicines, impacting their health

Question 9

what is global culture influenced by?

Answer 9

arts, food and the media with the spread of westernisation and eastern nations adopting western ideologies

Question 10

what are the different types of alliances and give some examples

Answer 10

-Military alliances: NATO and ANZUS
-economic alliances: EU, NAFTA and ASEAN
environmental alliances: IPCC

Question 11

what is the UN important in doing?

Answer 11

maintaining global geopolitical stability by carrying out peacekeeping missions and hold climate change conferences

Question 12

how does the UN work?

Answer 12

has 5 permanent members (UK, USA, France, China & Russia) and 10 non-permanent members which change every 2 years.
has internationally-recognised power

Question 13

what are 2 examples of the UN working in an imperfect way?

Answer 13

• any of the permanent member states can veto a decision
• USA, UK and France tend to vote together whilst Russia and China generally vote together which leads to no progress with the council.

Question 14

high resource consumption (last stage in Rostow’s modernisation model) has led to environmental problems such as…

Answer 14

• urban air quality in emerging cities is very dangerous due to poor vehicle engines
• imports and exports have increases CO2 through rise in transport meaning a larger carbon footprint
• deforestation has accelerated as people cut down trees to grow crops for food or biofuel

Question 15

how has the growing middle class contributed negatively to the environment?

Answer 15

As a population becomes richer they start to use more resources (live in bigger housing, require more heat, more appliances, more vehicles, afford holidays -planes etc)

Question 16

what existing resources has the rise in the middle-class put pressure on?

Answer 16

food security: more demand for a variety of food types like meat and dairy- large emitters of co2 and greenhouse gasses
water security: by 2030 it’s expected that 60% of India will face shortages
energy security: oil demand expected to rise by 30% by 2030
resource security: demand for rare earth minerals will increase prices

could all increase tensions between nations and increase prices

Question 17

why have developed nations emissions dropped but developing nations emissions increased?

Answer 17

• developed countries have already gone through industrialisation where they have experiences high emissions but developing nations are just entering this stage
• Developing nations have outsourced their manufacturing to less-developed countries who are effectively polluting on the developed countries behalf.

Question 18

what are some shifted changes in attitudes towards climate change in recent years?

Answer 18

-Trump: America has pulled out of many environmental initiatives and programmes like the Paris agreement.
he has also given permission for oil drilling in Alaska which contradicts Obama’s protection he implemented over these ecologically delicate areas
-EU see climate change has a 21st century problem and is working towards policies etc
-there are no sanctions for if a country misses their emissions targets

Question 19

what is free trade?

Answer 19

international trade that is international trade that is free from restrictions such as import/export taxes and quotas restricting the volume of trade.

Question 20

what does the IMF do?

Answer 20

promotes economic stability

aids economies in opening up to world trade and investments

Question 21

what is a patent?

Answer 21

the legal protection given to a new invention: other companies can use it, but only on payment of a royalty fee to the inventor (usually the company)

Question 22

define culture

Answer 22

a system of beliefs, values and traditions including behaviour, dress, art, language, food, relationships, religion and even political views

Question 23

what are some western values?

Answer 23

• individual freedom inc. gender equality and religious freedom
• the idea that accumulating wealth, owning property and consuming goods and services indicate a successful life

Question 24

what were the three top global brands in 2016

Answer 24

• google
• apple
• microsoft

Question 25

what role do the USA play regarding global dominance

Answer 25

global policemen

Question 26

define military alliances

Answer 26

a treaty between countries that usually involves mutual defence i.e if attacked all alliance members will come to the aid of the attacked country

Question 27

what is the IPCC (inter-governmental panel on climate change)

Answer 27

a group of scientists that reports on global warming roughly once every 5 years

Question 28

what is environmental degradation?

Answer 28

the reduction in water quality, air quality, soil health and biodiversity caused by high levels of pollution, deforestation and urbanisation

Question 29

define environmental governance

Answer 29

the decisions taken to protect and conserve the environment by enacting laws, policing and monitoring pollution and protected areas

Question 30

define ‘rare’ earths

Answer 30

a group of elements widely used in electronic, medical and laser devices.

Question 31

what is meant by resource nationalism

Answer 31

when a country keeps domestically produced resources for itself, rather than trading them internationally