Power & Polarity Flashcards
Hard power
Use of military and economic capability for coercion or as a threat.
Examples:
USS $60 million in military air to Ukraine to help to Russian aggression.
Soft power
Use of diplomacy, cultural relations and persuasion
Example:
Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government
-States agreed to increase cooperation in developing a vaccine for COVID-19
Smart power
Combination of both soft and hard power
BRICS
5 leading economies
Brazil
Russia
India
China
South Africa
MINT
Emerging economies:
Mexico
Indonesia
Nigeria
Turkey
Superpower
A state that possesses characteristics of a great power but will be able to make it influence felt anywhere in the world through nuclear and cyber technology and means of delivering devastating military response at any time.
Has influence over its allies.
Great power
A state that has significant global influence militarily and economically through leading role in IGOs such as the UN, G7, G20 and the Bretton Woods institutions.
Plays influential role in global issues
Emerging power
A state that has started to require great power status but hasn’t met all of the criteria to become a great power.
Likely to have significant level of regional influence while in other areas it may still be developing
Unipolarity
One state dominates all others
A hegemonic state
Bipolarity
Two competing poles of power
E.g. the superpower rivalry between the US and Soviet Union drawing the Cold War clear balance of power
Multipolarity
Multiple poles of powers in which several states compete with each other
The Cold War
The Soviet union and the US has permanent members of the UNC would veto any perceived threats to their own interests.
The US was leading member of NATO and the Soviet union dominated the Warsaw pact.
Israel had close ties with the US
Cuba with the Soviet Union
Key event : the Cuban missile crisis
Realists and the Cold War
-The promoted peace since the existence of two evenly balanced powers meant that neither sides was capable of eliminating the other. MAD.
-If one side risk of war, the results for both would have been catastrophic
-Encouraged understanding and conflict resolution since both sides understood the best way of advancing own interest was by working with the other.
-The period of détente between the US and Soviet Union brought the SALT agreement which slowed the arms build between the two powers
Liberals and the Cold War
-Bipolarity is destabilising and dangerous because both sides will continually be advancing their military and economic interests in the expense of the other creating fear, suspicion and hostility
-It therefore doesn’t provide the conditions for lasting peace.
-Cold war was defined by very long periods of distrust and antagonism illustrated by US paranoia about the ‘missile gap’ and the near initiation of a nuclear war by the cuban missile crisis
-Showing MAD is far from stable
Proxy wars
During the cold war both sides trued to extend their global influence at the expense of the other.
In the Vietnam war the Soviet Union and US were not in direct combat but took opposing sides to win.
Dangers of Unipolarity
The hegemonic status of one state can encourage dangerous resentment among emerging powers.
Argued this provoked WWI since rapidly growing Germany emboldened by Britains failures and decided to challenge the hegemonic status of Britain.
-There is a lack of constraints on what hegemonic power is able to do so can encourage it in defiance of international norms.
-Creating a malign hegemony- a state so powerful it no longer takes into account the views of other states pursuing its own interests at the expense of international law e.g US invasion of Iraq 2003 without a UN mandate demonstrates the dangers having such powers to ignore wishes of other states and international bodies of global governance
Challenges to US Hegemony
China:
Increasing military and diplomatically, extending influences abroad
-Belt and Road initiative
-The actions in the South China Sea
-String of Pearls Strategy
US is not still the Hegemon
Economic:
China expected to overtake the US in terms of GDP
US debt to China is over $1 trillion in 2020
China overtaken the US as the biggest investor in Africa and South America.
The AIIB has the potential to rival the World Bank as lender to the developing world.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is an example of Chinese economic power and influence in investments of over 70 countries.
-EU has the most profitable single market in the world.
-BRICS
Cultural:
-Other cultures becoming more influential.
-Bollywood & Nollywood in direct competition to Hollywood
-In 2020 China became the world’s biggest office box territory
-US soft power undermined by controversies such as the Iraq war, waterboarding, Guantanamo bay and Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy.
Political:
-Emerging powers taking on increasingly significant roles
-China and Russia are also permanent members of the UNSC
-India is becoming the fastest actor in the global south.
-Bretton Woods institutions have come under criticisms for their western (US) dominance.
-Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement provided China with the opportunity to seize global leadership in combating climate change.
Military:
Russia and China challenge the US in terms of the global reach of their forces and sophistication of weaponry.
US is still the Hegemon
Economic:
-US remains largest economy in the world
-The US dollar is the main form of international currency
-Wall Street is the worlds central global trading hub
-The US has huge amounts of structural powers including World bank IMF and WTO
-Has six of the worlds top 10 most valuable bands in 2020 Amazon, Google, Apple
Cultural :
-US is world renowned in television and film and has global leading fashion and corporate brands
-Produced many of the worlds most famous films and for a long time dominated the global box office
-Argued that globalisation is another word for Americanisation
Political:
-The US possesses importance structure power in many IGO. Permanent member of the UNSC and plays dominant role in World bank, G7 and NATO.
Military:
-The US has the worlds largest military budget and defence spend
-The US has 800 military basis in more than 70 countries across the globe so can deploy troops anywhere anywhere in the world at any time.
The US has 11 operational aircraft carriers compared with China two and Russia one
Middle East
Prior to the Cold War, Egypt, Syria and Iraq acted as regional leaders due to protests the balance of power in the region has shifted towards Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have fought a number of proxy was in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has strong ties with the US.
There is a religious divide between the two countries with Saudi Arabia having mostly sunni Muslim population and Iran having mostly Shia Muslim population.
Yemen
Yemen has suffered along Civil War and is now a failed state.
Iran was back in rebellion groups to take control which antagonise Saudi Arabia which began air strikes on these groups to uphold the government.
Is there multipolarity in today’s system? Yes.
-Emerging powers such as BRICS which are becoming increasingly powerful on the global stage challenging the idea that there is one clear hegemon.
-China has dramatically expanded its economy and prepares to assert itself in diplomatic relations
-Russia is more self-confident following its annexation of the Crimea
-Globalisation is no longer limited to Americanisation
-Increasing competition from violent non-states actors represents diffusion of powers e.g IS and al-Qaeda
Is there multipolarity in today’s system? No.
-The US remains a hegemonic power in its economic strength and military outreach
-China’s military outreach is only regional compared to the USA
-Russia lack allies and socially and economically has many of the characteristics of a developing state
-Americanisation remains arguably more than cosmopolitanism with US culture still incredibly influential
To what extent is China a superpower?
-China state capitalist model weathered the global financial crisis in 2008 significantly better than Western Powers
-China demonstrated growing power in the belt and road initiative
String of pearls initiative: the concept of -China building a network of commercial and military bases in imports across many countries.
-China has become the most successful Neo colonial power in the world. It’s Africa’s biggest trading partner and the value of China Africa trade in 2019 was $192 billion.
-Chinese investors owned Birmingham City football club, pizza express and Weetabix.
-Establishment of the AIIB which provides loans to developing countries
Due to levels of poverty and lack of development of significant parts of the country especially in rural areas China is considered to be a developing nation.
