♡ Superpowers Case Studies

Question 1

♡ What is a Superpower?

Answer 1

♡ A Superpower is a country that is able to exert influence or project power on a global scale

Question 2

♡ How does a country become a superpower?

Answer 2

♡ Economic influence
♡ Military influence
♡ Cultural influence
♡ Political influence
♡ Geographical influence (Mackinder’s Heartland Theory)

Question 3

♡ What is some evidence to show the USA’s status as a superpower? (Economic)

Answer 3

♡ Economic:
♡ - In 2009, USA’s economy ($14,119,050) almost 3x that of the 2nd largest economy (Japan, $5,068,894)
♡ - US Dollar global reserve currency –> Key commodities such as Oil and Gold are priced in dollars, makes them cheaper for the US to buy
♡ In 2010, 162 of the world’s 500 largest companies were domiciled in the US
♡ Home to 40% of billionaires
♡ Personal consumption accounts for 70% of the US economy

Question 4

♡ What is some evidence to show the USA’s status as a superpower? (Military)

Answer 4

♡ 2008 - World’s second largest army (1.4 million active military personnel)
♡ 25,000 aircraft and 11 aircraft carriers
♡ 2010 - 2,000 Nuclear weapons
♡ 2009 - $515.4 billion annual defence budget

Question 5

♡ What is some evidence to show the USA’s status as a superpower? (Cultural)

Answer 5

♡ Celebrities –> Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali
♡ Brands/TNCs –> Coca Cola, Starbucks

Question 6

♡ What is some evidence to show the USA’s status as a superpower? (Geographical)

Answer 6

♡ Military base at Diego Garcia in British Indian Ocean Territory
♡ Enabled USA to counter Soviet influence in the Indian Ocean during the Cold War
♡ Global Positioning System

Question 7

♡ How are Global Power Structures changing?

Answer 7

♡ Bipolar World –> USSR and USA during the Cold War to a Unipolar World/Asian Century where China becomes a dominant superpower

♡ EU-Japan Relations: Japan is looking to liberalise trade with EU reduces tariffs and barriers between the EU and Japan, scrapping duties/tariffs on 97-99% of goods imported, EU will reduce duties on 10% of car imports

Question 8

♡ What are the BRICS?

Answer 8

♡ Brazil
Strengths: Has huge natural resources, agricultural superpower, young population
Weaknesses: Less politically stable, corruption and protests

♡ Russia
Strengths: 9th global economy, political influence
Weaknesses: dependant on oil and gas exports, unbalanced economy, reductions in influence

♡ India
Strengths: 7% annual growth 1997-2015, outsourced IT, worlds largest democracy
Weaknesses: poor infrastructure, bad energy, water and technology, 20% of Indians live in poverty

♡ China
Strengths: Major player in global investment, huge population 1.37 billion
Weaknesses: Only 2% of adult population graduated from university, large amounts of debt, aging population

Question 9

♡ What is some evidence towards China being the next superpower?

Answer 9

♡ Navy: Planning Blue Water Navy –> Converting islands into bases to store Navy equipment

♡ Africa Investment: About 1/3 of China’s oil imports come from Africa, neocolonialism

♡ Energy trade: Between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore 12 million barrels of oil

♡ New Silk Road: China tries to keep the Uighur separatists cause unknown to prevent it from having supply lines
China and Pakistan agreed a $48b deal to build a superhighway of roads, railways and pipelands

♡ Trade with Brazil: Brazil changed their trading partners from USA to China

Question 10

♡ What are some counter-arguments towards China being the next superpower?

Answer 10

♡ Navy: 25 years ago, India’s ‘Look East’ policy to block China’s trade with them

♡ Africa Investment: USA companies are still more heavily involved in Africa in terms of investment

♡ Energy Trade: As long as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore remain pro-American, America will have advantage over China

♡ New Silk Road: Weak spot in China’s defence, gap between the mountains and desert

♡ Trade with Brazil: USA still trades with Brazil, who doesn’t share China’s hostile advances towards USA, Brazil and dChina don’t always agree on international matters

Question 11

♡ How do superpowers exercise power in the post-colonial era?

Answer 11

♡ Military: British fought numerous wars e.g against communists in Malaysia, the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya

♡ Politically: USA attempted to prevent the spread of communism through containment

♡ Economically: The IMF and World Bank were set up to provide aid to developing countries, often tied to SAPs

♡ Culturally: Western culture continued to spread around the world through films, music and adaptation of the English language

Question 12

♡ What are the MINTS?

Answer 12

♡ Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey

♡ Mexico
Strengths: Rich cultural history, abudance of natural resources, among the 15 largest economies in the world
Weaknesses: For the last 3 years Mexico has underperformed and poverty has increased, high unemployment, relies on US economy

♡ Indonesia
Strengths: Diverse range of natural resources, low labour costs, stable birth rate
Weaknesses: Exposed to shifts in Chinese demands, persistant corruption and natural disasters

♡ Nigeria
Strengths: Leading African power in terms of GDP, low debt levels, significant hydro-carbon resources
Weaknesses: High unemployment rates, dependant on oil revenues (Case against Shell), lack of infrastructure, corruption

♡ Turkey
Strengths: Young population which can support domestic demands, large industrial and tourism base, good location for trade
Weaknesses: Dependent on short term capital inflows, high external debt, large amounts of inequality, risks due to Syrian conflict

Question 13

♡ Neocolonialism example: What is China doing in Africa?

Answer 13

♡ China’s economic investment with Africa focussed on trade and infrastructure investments
♡ 2015: China’s African trade = $300 billion
♡ $60 billion in Chinese FDI, over 1m Chinese in Africa
♡ Only 5% global FDI to Africa, half in Asia
♡ Environmental impacts = air and water pollution

Question 14

♡ What is One Belt, One Road?

Answer 14

♡ Increase China’s connectivity between China and Eurasia
♡ One Belt: Countries extending from Russia, Central Asia and Western Europe
♡ One Road: Extending influence into Southeast Asia and India, then to Middle East and East Africa

Question 15

♡ What causes tensions in Superpowers?

Answer 15

♡ Counterfeit Goods: Estimated that 5-10% of world trade is in counterfeit goods. Chinese companies well-known for infringing on IP
IP is criticised due to royalties, could prevent new ideas, can create monopolies

♡ Arctic Oil and Gas: 30% of undiscovered gas in Arctic, disputes over Lomonosov Ridge - 2007 Russian flag on sea bed, Canada and Russia have dedicated Arctic forces, 3 parties have nuclear weapons

Question 16

♡ What is challenging the EU’s superstatus?

Answer 16

♡ Debt in Eurozone amounted to 9.7 trillion in 2019, drag on economic growth
♡ Aging population
♡ EU’s workforce will drop by 14% by 2030
♡ Youth unemployment 22%
♡ After 2035, EU’s population likely to fall
♡ EU unemployment was close to 10% in 2016
♡ Energy insecurity, most energy comes from Russia

Question 17

♡ What are the theories on superpowers?

Answer 17

♡ Mackinder’s Heartland Theory: Whoever controls East Europe controls the Heartland, and then whoever controls the Heartland controls the whole world

♡ Dependency Theory: Sees the world as an economically developed core and an underdeveloped periphery. Says that the core deliberately exploits the cheap resources in the periphery to keep them in a state of underdevelopment while the core regions remain wealthy

Strengths: Illustrates how countries can develop using the exploitation of cheap resources, takes into account the inequality between the rich and the poor

Weaknesses: Too simple, underdevelopment can be due to climate, corruption, poor leadership etc, China and India have begun developing rapidly despite exploitation from Developed countries

♡ World Systems Theory: Wallerstein, created to overcome the key problems of the Core and Periphery world. Three-tier system with a Semi-Periphery

Strengths: Acknowledges the codependency between core regions and periphery regions Ex. if periphery countries stop the exploitation core regions will collapse

Weaknesses: Does not take into account the poor leadership and corruption of LICs, no clear line to divide core regions, semi-periphery regions and periphery regions

♡ Rostow’s Modernisation Theory: Was used by Rostow to explain the British Empire’s control of USA, had to get to Capitalism in 5 stages, which meant that China and USSR couldn’t follow them.

Positives: Allows the development of a country to be easily seen, has worked in the Asian Tigers, can be illustrated on a graph

Negatives: Doesn’t acknowledge loans or aid, outdated as China and India have developed, doesn’t take into account regional and cultural factors

Question 18

♡ How did the UN intervene with Russia?

Answer 18

♡ Economic sanctions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, aim to weaken Russia’s ability to finance the war and specifically target the political, military and economic elite responsible for the invasion

♡ Has caused the Russian economy to shrink but not enough to stop the invasion
♡ Decline in trade, especially in gas/coal
♡ Deters other countries from undermining sanctions

Question 19

♡ How have border disputes been created?

Answer 19

♡ Russia-Ukraine over Crimea, military disputes since 2021 war
♡ Crimea 59% ethnic Russians, Russia claims it as theirs due to this, also key access point to Black Sea
♡ Military bases from both Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine want it due to being the Breadbasket of Europe and being a key place for agriculture and grain

♡ South China Sea, China claims to have sovereignty/territory over The Philippines and Taiwan, doesn’t recognise Taiwan as a country, threatening it with military action
UNCLOS: Argued they had a right to The Philippines’ Nine-Dash line due to historical claims, UNCLOS ruled in Philippines’ favour but China still uses it, exerts its own influence through artifical island building and island settlements to use as Navy bases

Question 20

♡ How did the USSR lose the Cold War?

Answer 20

♡ Bi-polar World: USSR and USA
♡ Size of the economy: USSR’s was half of USA’s economy, Western Europe supported USA
♡ Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis, USA spent 9% of economy on defence, USSR and African countries talked about alliances, costed money
♡ Star Wars: Weaponisation of Outer Space, Soviet’s flagging economy couldn’t match this escalation in defence
♡ Invasion of Afghanistan: Soviets invaded. The Truman Doctrine had clearly stipulated that American policy was to contain the spread of communism throughout the world, so the U.S. secretly supported and trained the Mujahedeen.