Power and Developments Flashcards
What is population power and give an example.
A state with a larger population has larger military and economic capabilities; however, if a large amount lives in poverty, foreign policy may take the backburner
- China has now used its larger population to become the largest exporter but had to turn inwards after 2008 due to many being pushed into poverty
What is structural power and give an example.
A state’s capacity to influence the decision-making of IGOs.
- The P5 all have vetoes in the UNSC and the US essentially has a veto in the World Bank
What is regional power and give an example.
A state’s influence within a close region
- The US is the largest trading partner of Canada and Mexico and continues to influence South America
What is R&D power and give an example.
The amount a state spends on research and development, giving them a technological advantage
- The US was the first to develop the atom bomb
What is natural resource power and give an example.
States with large natural wealth can use it as bargaining chips or be more difficult to sanction due to others reliance on them
- Russia’s natural resources amount to $75tn and include coil, natural gas, and oil which countries like Italy (98% of their pipeline gas imports) rely on
What is hard power?
The ability of states to make other to do what they want, using ‘carrots’ or ‘sticks’
What is the ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ of military power?
- Carrot: military personnel or technology, such as the use of American missiles in Ukraine
- Stick: use of power against a state
Give a Chinese, American, and Russian example of military hard power.
- The US spends $900bn on the military, their biggest expenditure and 3x larger than 2nd, China.
- China has 2mn military personnel and 800 ships, the highest of both
- Russia is unique in that its military power comes from their willingness to use overt force, such as in Ukraine or Georgia
What is the ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ of economic power?
- Carrot: trade agreements
- Stick: sanctions or tariffs
Give a Chinese, American, and Russian example of economic hard power.
- The US continually puts clauses in their trade agreements protecting human rights and workers’ conditions.
- China has been able to use its wealth to give loans to developing states to indebt them and increase their sphere of influence
- Minimal action has been taken against Russia and its invasion due to European dependence on Russian gas
What is soft power?
The ways in which a state achieves its aims using the attractiveness of its culture and political system
How is military power still important? Give a counter argument
Military power provides states the surest way to achieve their aims - the US was able to weaken their enemies in the Middle East with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, destroying Al Qaeda and dethroning Saddam Hussein
- States lose relations and other types of power when engaging in military operations only in their own interests - economic sanctions (all it’s £275bn foreign currency reserves were frozen) and expulsion from the G7/8 of Russia when they invaded in Ukraine
How is economic power still important? Give a counter argument
In a globalised market, holding economic power can give you control over investment, debt, corporations - China’s belt and Road Initiative has given them power by holding debt relief over nation’s heads and influence in one of the only other nations with nuclear weapons, Pakistan
- The efficacy of things like sanctions have been questioned, 16,500 of them having failing to end the war in Ukraine and the effect of tariffs only coming back to bite nations with trade wars
How is soft power important? Give a counter argument
In ‘The End of History, given cooperation is the game, a state’s ability to convince other states without use of force is a great tool - the Pew Research Centre found that the US is seen as technologically advanced, as well as having better than average education
- Soft power doesn’t give you control over an outcome, only the ability to influence it - the EU is hailed as a soft superpower but many states are increasingly ignoring its demands for rule of law, with Liberties reporting that the wave of populism has caused an “overall decline across the EU”
Outline smart power and give an example.
A state using both hard- and soft-power to achieve their goals
- Obama demonstrated in his addmittance of Western antagonism in his Cairo speech that he was willing to work with the Middle East. However, his use of drone strikes was fairly military.
Outline sharp power and give an example.
The attempt by a state to manipulate the image of itself in foreign nations, to mislead or divide public opinion or to divert attention. Autocracies are especially proficient at this given their tight hold over the media.
- China keeps a tight hold over its internet and media, even stopping people from searching ‘Tianeman Square Massacre’
