GP- Power & Developments: Different types of power Flashcards
Q: What is “power” as defined in the provided text?
A: Power refers to the ability to achieve the outcomes that actors in global politics want.
Q: Who does this definition of power apply to?
A: Both states and non-state actors.
Q: What is a recurring theme in global politics, according to the text?
A: Power.
Q: What determines how much influence states, regional organizations, IGOs, and non-state actors wield in international relations?
A: How much power they possess.
Q: Who defined two types of power in a 1990 essay on foreign policy?
A: US foreign policy expert Joseph Nye.
Q: What are the two types of power defined by Joseph Nye?
A: Hard power and soft power.
Q: How did Nye define “power”?
A: “Power is the ability to affect others to get the outcomes you want, and that can be done by coercion, payment or attraction.”
Q: What is “smart power”?
A: When soft and hard power are deployed together.
Q: What is “hard power”?
A: Hard power is where states use coercion to achieve desired outcomes.
Q: What are examples of hard power resources?
A: Military power, or the threat of the use of military power, and economic power.
Q: How can economic power be exercised?
A: By powerful nation states or regional organisations in trade negotiations through offering inducements or disincentives.
Q: What is a powerful example of economic hard power?
A: The threat of tariffs.
Q: What are economic sanctions?
A: Measures such as trade bans or freezing bank accounts that can impose economic hardship on states and individuals.
Q: What is “structural power”?
A: Power that further increases hard power, such as the USA’s dominant position on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Q: What is China’s Belt and Road Initiative and leadership of the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIB) provide it with?
A: Enormous structural power, enabling it to spread its economic influence globally.
Q: Can all states rely on hard power?
A: No, less powerful states do not have enough military or economic power to be able to threaten other states.
Q: Why can’t even powerful states always rely on hard power?
A: Because they may need to maintain friendly economic relations with some states, and military force is not always a sensible option.
Q: What was the outcome of Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war (2015)?
A: The ruthlessness of Russia’s military intervention in Syria, including the sustained bombardment of the rebel-held Aleppo, was crucial in enabling the Assad regime to maintain its power.
Q: What happened on 24 February 2022?
A: Russia invaded Ukraine, having amassed up to 190,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders.
Q: What was the outcome of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
A: Russia’s military intervention did not achieve the speedy successes President Putin had anticipated, and the war soon became one of attrition rather than swift victory.
Q: What have EU sanctions on Russia included?
A: A ban on Russian crude oil, gas and coal and Russian flights to or over EU countries.
Q: What is a problem with using tariffs as economic hard power?
A: They can provoke a trade war.
Q: What is “soft power”?
A: Soft power is where powers utilize the appeal of their culture to achieve the outcomes they desire.
Q: How is soft power best delivered?
A: When a state or regional organisation is attractive to and trusted by other powers.
Q: What provides an especially effective resource in achieving cultural outreach?
A: Cultural outreach.
Q: What is an example of US cultural outreach?.
A: US presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama encouraging the global appeal of the “American Dream.”
Q: What else provides the USA with the opportunity to expand its appeal globally?
A: Hollywood.
Q: Why is soft power difficult for governments to control?
A: Because cultural assets such as a country’s film industry, literature or universities are usually independent of government.
Q: What is soft power also based on?
A: A country’s global reputation.
Q: What happened at Abu Ghraib prison during the US occupation of Iraq?
A: Prisoner abuse, which significantly undermined US cultural appeal.
Q: What happened during the Trump administration (2017-21)?
A: US soft power declined even further.
Q: What happened on 6 January 2021?
A: Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
Q: What did Biden promise in his inaugural speech?
A: “We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.”
Q: What happened on 8 September 2022?
A: The death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Q: What happened with Prince Harry’s autobiography “Spare” in January 2023?
A: It demonstrated the fragility of soft power and how it can be lost as well as gained.
Q: What do major sporting events provide the opportunity for?
A: Host and guest nations to assert soft power.
Q: What have educational opportunities like the Fulbright Scholarship and Rhodes Scholarship provided?
A: A powerful way in which countries can expand their overseas influence.
Q: What have Confucius Institutes encouraged?
A: A global appreciation of Chinese culture.
Q: What did leading world powers frequently donate during the Covid-19 pandemic?
A: Vaccines to enhance their soft power influence.
Q: What has Russia’s military intervention in Syria in 2015 been successful in?
A: Maintaining the Assad regime and increasing Russian influence in the Middle East.
Q: What can happen if military hard power is not accompanied by soft power?
A: It can incentivize armed resistance.
Q: What has hampered Russian military success during the war in Ukraine?
A: The poor quality of some of its military equipment.
Q: What has Ukraine benefited from during the war?
A: Significant military and economic support from the West.
Q: What has helped Ukraine’s capacity to resist the Russian invasion?
A: President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appearance at the UN and his frequent press interviews.
Q: What is a powerful new form of military hard power?
A: Cyber warfare and disinformation.
Q: What have cyber warfare and disinformation been deployed by?
A: Russia, Iran and China.
Q: What have the negative consequences of these tactics undermined?
A: The soft power potential of these countries.
Q: What happened to RT (Russia Today) in 2022?
A: It was banned in the EU, UK and Canada.
Q: What will happen to China’s Huawei technology from 2027 in the UK?
A: It will be banned.
Q: What has Israel effectively deployed?
A: Military hard power to defeat attacks by neighbouring states.
Q: What has Israel also established?
A: A strong security apparatus to deter terrorist attacks.
Q: What does Israel benefit from?
A: US aid.
Q: What has Israel’s focus on hard power undermined, according to some critics?
A: Its soft power potential.
Q: What has China dramatically increased?
A: Its economic global influence.
Q: What has led to growing Western distrust of China?
A: China’s suppression of democracy in Hong Kong, increasing military pressure on Taiwan and allegations of a genocide against the Uyghur Muslims.
Q: What has such “negative” soft power influence significantly limited?
A: Its potential for world influence.
Q: What does smart power combine?
A: Soft power cultural appeal with economic, military and structural hard power.
Q: What does the EU have a strong reputation on?
A: Human rights and its leadership on climate change.
Q: What does the EU’s strong reputation provide it with?
A: Considerable soft power influence over other regional organisations and liberal democratic nation state
