Superpowers Flashcards
What is geopolitical?
The influence of geographical factors (size, population, economy) on the actions of countries- often affecting their foreign policies
What is a superpower?
A country that projects its power and ideas globally and can influence other countries using its economic, political, military and cultural strengths
What is a regional power?
A leading country on a continental scale (brazil, Nigeria)
What is an emerging power?
A power that has influence in certain areas (china, Russia)
What is the areal extent of power referring to?
superpowers
regional powers
emerging powers
What is the nature of power referring to?
economic power military power political power resources cultural power
What is economic power?
Something that provides the wealth to maintain a powerful military, exploit natural resources and develop human ones (education)
What is Military power?
Something used to achieve geopolitical goals (large navy, nuclear weapons and missile technology)
What is political power?
The influence others through diplomacy- exercised through international organisations (UN and IMF)
what is cultural power?
The appeal to others of a nations way of life, values and ideology - through media and arts and food
What are Resources?
Physical resources (fossil fuels, common and rare minerals) and human resources (cheap labour)
What is a sanction?
A penalty applied against one country by another country or group of countries, e.g. the UN - often economic, cultural or sporting
What is a Geo-strategy?
The policies required to secure resources (land/minerals) that a country wants
How do powerful country exert there power?
Hard power and soft power
What is hard power?
A country using economic and/or military strength to influence other countries e.g. to obtain trade deals or impose sanctions- can be expensive and risky (allies could be lost)
What is soft power?
A more subtle and gradual influence, e.g. diplomacy and cultural practices (arts projects and travel encouragements) low cost, but may be ineffective
How has the relative power of nations changed overtime?
The importance of the nature of the power mechanism being employed
Who influenced hard power?
The geo-strategic thinking of H. J. Mackinder (1904)
What did H. J. Mackinder identify?
He identified a central region of Eurasia he named the heartland - a continental area stretching from Russia to china, and from the Himalayas to the arctic
What did H. J. Mackinder argue?
That this was the key geo-strategic location in the world because control of it commanded a huge portion of the worlds physical and human resources
How was Mackinder’s theory influential?
Because it contributed to policies of containment: after the first world war attempts to limit the land controlled by Germany
after the second world war: attempts to contain the USSR from expanding to the west and south
The American Truman doctrine policy of the 1940s/50s to contain the spread of communism from the USSR and China
What are the recent trends in the 21st century?
Soft power has been dominant
there have however been recent examples of hard power being exerted in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Ukraine which was led by the USA and Russia
What is an empire?
A group of country’s ruled over by another country, usually taken by conquest
What is colonialism?
The establishment and maintenance of rule by a sovereign power over the people of an empire - several European countries had colonies in the nineteenth century
What is a multipolar world?
Where there are several superpowers competing for power
What is NAFTA?
NORTH AMERICXAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
USA, Canada, and Mexico
What are the G7/G8/G20?
The 6/7/19 most economically powerful countries in the world, plus the EU
What is NATO?
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGAINSATION
What is Neo-colonialism?
A country’s retention of influence over other countries, especially its former colonies, often by economic or political measures
What several European powers each had an empire up to the end of the second world war?
Britain Germany Spain Portugal France
what do empires depend on having?
A powerful navy to transport troops and equipment and to protect sea routes and lanes
Government-backed businesses to exploit resources - metal ores and the products of plantations (sugar cane, tea, rubber)
A large merchant navy to transport these resources back to the home country
What is key to colonialism?
An efficient civil service was key to this
How was a multipolar world created?
Conflicts between opposing empires such as Britain and Germany in the second world war
Tensions where people of the colonies sought independence from acts of brutal suppression against them
What are some examples of indirect mechanisms of power?
Economic- trade blocs create alliances and interdependence between countries
Political- the UN and other groups of nations such as the G7/G8 and G20
Military- the joining of the military arms of countries, e.g. NATO and the Warsaw pact; the battle between these two global forces lead to the cold war
Cultural- considered influential, e.g. westernisation and media links
How do western nations continue to exert neo-colonialism over their former colonies?
Continuing to import low-value commodities from developing nations
Continuing to export high-value manufactured goods to developing nations
enabling financial situations such that developing nations are indebted to western nations
encouraging the migration of skilled people away from developing nations
How do people suggest that China is rivalling the USAs hegemony?
They state China is adopting neo-colonialism practices in some African and southeast Asian countries
What is Hegemony?
The mastery of one superpower over all others - some say the USA has this power
What is unipolar world?
One dominated by one superpower, e.g. the British empire or the US- dominated world of today
What is a bipolar world?
One in which two superpowers, with opposing ideologies, vie for power e.g. the USA and USSR during the cold war
What is a multipolar world?
It has many superpowers and emerging powers competing for power in different regions
What is a BRIC(S) nation?
BRAZIL, RUSSIA, INDIA, CHINA and south Africa
What is a MINT country?
MEXICO, INDONESIA, NIGERIA and TURKEY
How are BRIC and MINT countries now exerting more global influence?
Demanding more influence on body’s such as the UN
Being at the heart of global financial institutions such as the IMF
Being involved in global environment governance, such as the UN climate change conferences and ecosystem management bodies
Playing s role in peacekeeping missions and disaster response
What are the strengths of Brazil?
Large population of 200million
Huge land area with farmland
Large amounts of resources
Heavy investment in HEP
What are the Weaknesses of Brazil?
Dependent on exporting raw material
Small middle class - high levels of inequality
periods of [political uncertainty
corruption and crime are high
What are the strengths of Russia?
Rich in key minerals
Huge are of land
Strong national governance
Very powerful military, a major in nuclear power
What are the weaknesses of Russia?
Politically isolated from the rest of the world
Ageing population
Needs immigration, but not accepted politically
Suffering sanctions as a result of global political actions
What are the strengths of India?
Youthful population
High levels of technological development
High numbers of English speakers
Large numbers of middle class
What are the weaknesses of India?
Acute inequality
Poor energy systems
Poor infrastructure
Floods in some parts
What are the strengths of China?
Powerful manufacturing base Huge population to act as workforce and internal market Rising number of middle class Strong political control High levels of technology
What are the weaknesses of China?
Ageing population
Appears to be disinterested in exerting a global influence
Severe environmental problems
Water scarcity issues
What are the strengths of South Africa?
Rich in key mineral resources
large land area
large population
What are the weaknesses of South Africa?
Poor transport infrastructure
High levels of inequality between main racial groupings
High levels of corruption
What is a demographic dividend?
The benefit a country gets when its working population is much larger than its dependent population
What is the OECD?
ORGANISATION for ECONOMIC COOPERATION and DEVELOPMENT
A club of the worlds richest countries
What is the worlds system theory?
Stresses that development should be viewed within a global economic context rather than focussing on individual countries
What are the three broad economic development categories?
Core regions- OECD countries (USA and EU)
Semi-periphery regions - emerging powers (India and China)
Periphery regions- the rest of the developing world
What does the core use the semi-periphery for?
Cheap location for manufacturing and services
What does the periphery supply the semi-periphery with?
Raw materials to supply the manufacturing industry in the semi periphery and consumption in the core
What is the dependency theory?
Satellite (periphery) countries provide a range of services to metropolitan (core) countries, i.e. cheap commodities (oil, copper, coffee), migrant labour, skilled worker, markets for manufactured goods and locations for investment
How do developed countries control the growth of developing nations?
By setting the prices paid for commodities via the World Bank and IMF, and by using economic and military aid to ‘buy’ the loyalty of satellite states
What do wealthy elites (who own importing and exporting businesses and have political connections) benefit from?
From the dependency relationship because they control the limited trade in goods and services; the wider population does not benefit at all
What are the five stages of the modernisation theory?
Traditional society Precautions for take-off Take-off The drive to maternity The age of mass consumption
What is the Traditional society stage of the modernisation theory?
A subsidence economy based mainly on farming, with limited technology or capital to process raw materials or to develop industry’s
What is the precautions for take off stage of the modernisation theory?
Investment that allows agriculture to be more commercialised, an industry to dominate the economy, and transport system to grow
What is the take off stage of the modernisation theory?
Manufacturing industries grow rapidly, with growth being concentrated in one or two areas; improvements in transport continue together with some progress in social conditions; employment in agriculture declines
What is the drive to maternity stage of the modernisation theory?
A period of self sustaining growth; economic growth spreads to all parts of the country; more industry’s are developed; urbanisation takes place
What is the age of mass consumption of the modernisation theory?
A period of rapid expansion of service industries, with a consequent decline in manufacturing
What environmental government actions have been taken?
A number of UN sponsored meetings have taken place to attempt to reduce carbon emissions e.g. the Kyoto protocol and COP21
The main outcome of COP21 was to cut CO2 emissions with different rates and timescales for each country
What are some different opinions on climate change?
China- favours continued economic growth using coal (recent pollution issues in Beijing and other cities, however have forced it to seriously consider alternative technologies)
USA- has a tradition of climate scepticism (trump)
Russia- heavily depends on exports of oil and gas to western Europe
European nations are generally more sympathetic to reducing carbon emissions
What is environmental governance?
The decisions taken to protect and conserve the environment
What is the rare earths?
A group of elements widely used in electronic, medical and laser devices- they are largely contained within the lanthanide group of the periodic table
What is resource nationalism?
When a country seeks to protect domestic supplies of a resource for itself, rather than allow its export
What is a black swan event?
An occurrence that deviates beyond what is normally expected of a situation and is extremely difficult to predict
What country would I use as an example of a global superpower?
USA
What Country’s would I use as an example of an emerging power?
India
China
What case study’s would I use when discussing international decision-making?
Haiti
Afghanistan
What case study would I use when discussing the attitudes and actions of IGOs towards geopolitical stability?
UN
What case study would I use when discussing how climate change has effected a country?
Kiribati
What case study would I use when discussing tensions over resources?
Arctic region
What case study’s would I use when discussing tensions over territory?
Russia
South China sea
What case study would I use when discussing Emerging superpowers and their connections with developing countries?
China in Africa
