superpowers Flashcards
Soft/hard power spectrum?
military force/threat HARD
diplomatic actions/economic sanctions
Coercive trade agreements/tied trade
Political/economic influence/ moral integrity SOFT
cultural attractiveness
superpower definition?
A country with the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world.
what are the 7 factors that help countries gain superpower status?
Physical size, economic power and influence, demographic factors, political factors, military strength, cultural influence, access to natural resources.
how does physical size/geographical position help with superpower status?
Determines area over which a country has potential influence. Larger countries tend to have more resources and influence.
EG; Russia worlds largest country controls significant resources as a result, for example they have influence over arctic and vast untapped natural resources there. However this can lead to tensions as border 14 countries.
how does Economic power and influence lead to superpower status?
The top 10 countries earn 65% of the world’s GDP.
control investment and FDI creating jobs in their own country.
Determine economic policies ,by joining political and economic organisations such as G20 due to strength if trade and intrest rates.
How do demographic factors lead to superpower status?
Key to economic successby providing sufficent labourforce to generate economic growth.UK in migration has increased, increasing labour force. Largw pop means large domestic market take EU single market providing for 500 mil people and china exploting pop for cheap labour.
How do demographic factors lead to superpower status?
Key to economic success by providing sufficent labour force to generate economic growth.UK in migration has increased, increasing the labour force. Large pop means a large domestic market, eg. take the EU single market providing for 500 mil people and china exploiting pop for cheap labour costs in manufacturing.However, in cases such as Singapore they have had extreme econ growth with FDI driving growth.
How do demographic factors lead to superpower status?
Key to economic success by providing sufficient labourforce to generate economic growth.UK in migration has increased, increasing labor force. Large pop means large domestic market take EU single market providing for 500 mil people and china exploiting pop for cheap labour.
How do political factors lead to superpower status?
extensive trade partnerships have occurred as a means of sharing influence and ideas. In 1960 OECD had 20 of worlds most developed countries, now it has 35. Another important group is G20 formally G8 until global shift occurred. Contains 50 percent of worlds population involved in peace keeping.
How does military strength lead to superpower status?
Military size historically has been a major influence in determining power. Now most countries use military force to protect themselves against invaders. However military size is often less significant than national defence budgets and technology. In recent years China has expanded military with interests lying in Asia region in south China sea. Un security council said to be the ultimate display of military power with its job a balancing act to approve military intervention in particular conflicts.
How does cultural influence lead to a superpower status?
Increased globalisation has led to a global culture spread by multimedia TNC’s such as Disney or Sony dominating global culture by deciding what firms can watch and which radio stations they can listen to.
How does access to natural resources lead to an increased superpower status.
some resources are essential to economic development like oil and iron used in steel industry and electrical production. However, the possession of natural resources doesn’t guarantee development. Many countries natural resources managed by major TNC’s such as shell i.e., in Nigeria oilfields managed by BP and shell and Australia exports iron to China with no value added. Nonetheless, possession of key resources gives leverage over others, e.g., OPEC in setting global oil prices.
What was Mackinder’s heartland?
Argued that whoever controlled Europe and Asia would control the world and he identified a Heartland called the ‘world island’ from eastern europe into Russia at the centre which was a ‘pivot’.
Mac kinder believed 3 things determined power in this region.
Whoever ruled strategic part of Europe would command the heartland–> whoever ruled heartland would command the world island (Europe and Russia)
–> whoever controlled the world island ruled the world. He believed the further away from the hearland the less influence it would have. According to theory he believed Russia should be the world power but he thought they had 2 main barriers too many borders and few open water ports. He believed power could shift geographically and due to UK’s naval dominance.
What caused Mackinder’s Heartland to move?
Global shift moved economic centre of gravity towards the country with highest GDP China positioning more towards Asia.
When was there a multi-polar world?
During British colonial rule as there were multiple European colonies such as France and Spain meaning there was multiple superpowers in world at one time. British believed it to be their right to colonise other countries as they believed it was the will of God and it benefited them economically and politically as land gave them power.
