Hard & Soft Power

Question 1

Hard power vs soft power

Answer 1

Hard power = military force, sanctions, threats

• E.g UK & USA imposed sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program
• China is currently performing well in terms of military power

Soft power = Cultural, political, moral or economic influence

• E.g USA promoting new shows and films to express culture
• French promoting 43% cultural shows in France to gain cultural influence

Question 2

Patterns of power

Answer 2

Uni polar = One power
Bi polar = Two powers
Multi polar = Multiple powers

Multipolar world:

• In colonial era there was lots of powers
• France, Britain, Spain, Portugal top powers
• Time period extended upto 1939

Neo-colonialism = Less developed countries still indirectly controlled by superpowers through economic, cultural or political methods

Question 3

Bi polar world

Answer 3

• After WWII, USA & USSR became two global powers
• This era had indirect control and soft power became more important
• Competition created the Cold War
• US & USSR (Soviet Union) had nuclear weapons and military = large threat

Results of Cold War:

• Countries supporting Russia USSR formed Warsaw Pact and CMEA
• CMEA = Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
• Countries supporting USA formed NATO
• NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
• USA set up Marshal Plan and gave $12bn in aid to European countries for war damage & redevelopment
• US made inward inv into Asia like Japan for economic growth = neo colonialism

Question 4

Emerging powers - BRICS

Answer 4

BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India, China

21st Century Challenges to USA:

• Russia re-emerging as a major economic power after collapse of USSR in 1991
• People believe by 2050, USA will return to multi-polar and not uni-polar
• The gap is that each of these nations has a long way to go vs USA e.g combined GDP of BRICs in 2014 was $16.4trillion which was 8% less than USA
• BRIC combined population is 3.2bn+

Question 5

China

Answer 5

• China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
• Carbon emissions rose by 4% in the first part of 2018
• China’s economic growth lifted 68.53mill people out of poverty from 2012-2017
• 2nd largest economy in world 13.4% global GDP whereas USA 22.4% GDP
• China open door FDI policy 1978 increased globalisation & TNC’s
• China has the world’s largest army and 3,000+ aircraft
• Pollution kills 4,000 people a day in factories

Question 6

Brazil

Answer 6

• Protests every yr since 2013
• Politically unstable
• Gov spending cuts led to unrest
• Brazil makes up 60% of South America’s total military budget
• In 2017, Brazil spent 2.166% of its GDP on military according to the World Bank
• Brazil’s economy predicted incr by 3% in 2023 & become 9th largest economy
• Brazil is self sufficient in food & energy and has been oil exporting since 2011
• Brazil is world’s 10th largest oil producer
• Fertility rate fell from 6 in 1960 to 1.8 in 2015
• Brazil has Global influence through Rio carnival and hosting Olympic Games 2016
• Deforestation in Amazon rainforest lead to env issues as it’s home to 13% of world’s biodiversity

Question 7

Russia

Answer 7

• Russia is the 9th largest economy in world
• Economy dependent on oil & gas exports
• Makes it vulnerable to price fluctuations
• Became world’s largest arms exported in 2013 selling to Nigeria to increase global influence