Superpowers Flashcards
5 pillars of superpower status and most important one
Cultural
Political
Resources
Military
Economic (most important)
What is a regional power
a country that is not necessarily the most influential on the world stage but is in their region eg brazil, south africa
What are the 3 types of power a country can exert
Hard Power - the use of military force or economic sanctions
Soft Power - FDI, strong cultural influence, Alliances, FDI
Smart Power - a combination of the two
Mackinders Heartland theory
The idea that whoever controlled the ‘Heartland’ (most of Europe and Asia) would be the dominant country in the world as it had access to most natural and human resources
Technology and globalisation has accelerated the shrinking world effect making this theory obsolete, proven by the USA being the superpower for a while
Modernisation Theory
Countries develop in a linear fashion from a traditional society, to having the stimulus for takeoff, to takeoff, to a drive to maturity, to a mass consumerist society
Two criticisms of the Modernisation theory
It only uses Western Europe and the USA as examples and therefore ignores countries with rapid development like the UAE which skips steps, or recessing countries like post-Soviet Russia
It does not account for the fact that in a globalised world, other countries have an influence on the development of a country
Dependency Theory
The idea that there are core countries and periphery countries, and through soft and hard power and exploitative trading, the core countries remain core countries while the periphery countries remain periphery (marxist)
Criticism of dependency theory
It shows no mobility which doesn’t explain countries like China who went from periphery to core
World Systems Theory
Similar to the dependency theory that core countries generally remain core countries by making trades with periphery countries preferable for them, but includes a semi periphery category and allows for movement from sector to sector
Three types of superpower polarity
Unipolar - one country dominates eg. the USA now or British Empire
Bipolar - two countries with opposing ideologies equally dominant eg. the USA vs USSR
Multipolar - a world without a dominant country and many similarly powerful nations
What is neocolonialism
the use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries
Give an example of neocolonialism today
China invested large amounts of money into Mozambique to help develop infrastructure like hospitals in exchange for fishing rights, but the Chinese outcompeted Mozambique’s fishing industry, forcing Mozambicans to work for Chinese fishing companies for less money
How much has China invested into Africa and how many Chinese people live in Africa
1 million Chinese people in Africa
Over $53 billion of investment
3 reasons for Chinese investment in Africa
- To help secure raw materials which Africa is rich in
- To help establish markets in a region seeing rapid economic growth
- To increase China’s global political influence as these countries would more likely align with China
3 opportunities for developing countries in Africa from Chinese investment
- Creates new jobs and skilled populations to establish more economic growth
- Chinese funded ports increase trading opportunities
- Chinese money has no strings attached, making it preferable to the IMF or World Bank who often attach SAPs to it
3 problems caused to developing countries in Africa from Chinese investment
- Risks the country becoming dependent on China for its economy and trade
- Often the investment comes in top-down development projects which does not always benefit the average citizen
- Some Chinese projects have caused mass environmental degradation eg. deforestation from copper mining in Zambia
What is the WEF
A Swiss economic forum which takes place every year and brings together politicians and business owners to discuss cooperation and promote globalisation and free-trade
As it costs $19,000 to attend, many less developed countries can not attend and therefore do not get their opinions heard
In 2013 it was estimated that TNC’s account for __% of global trade
80%
Why do developed countries benefit more from patents
Their businesses have more money to develop products to patent
Name a country which has historically acted as a global police and if this is still true
USA - although they are now trying to reduce involvement in foreign conflcits
Which 3 ways does USA intervene (who with)
- Through the UN
- Outside UN remit but with allied countries
- Alone
What made the USA so able to intervene
