Superpowers EQ2 Flashcards
What are the roles of IGOs?
- provide a forum for discussion
- create a mechanism for he worlds inhabitants
- to deal with economic and social questions
- help allow states to take a longer term perspective
What are the WEF?
a Swiss not for profit organisation which works across national boarders with the aim to improve the state of the world by bringing together business political academic leaders of society
Name a good and bad thing about the WEF
+ helps to deal with global issues
+ provides a discourse
+ not strictly political leaders
- conflicts between players and stakeholders
- governments tend to have the overall say
What is the IMF
Give loans to developing countries with the aim to promote global economic stability
What’s a good and bad thing about the IMF?
+ helps to clear debt
- conditions/ regulations from the loans
- member states - countries pay in for a vote
Who are the World Bank?
A bank which lends money on a global scale and give grants to developing countries. They have a proportional voting system based on the amount of money each country has invested
What is a good and a bad thing about the world bank?
+ help developing countries
- dominated by the USA who have 16% of all votes
What is the WTO?
They ask country to remove tariffs and taxes on foreign imports and subsidies to domestic products so that trade is free and without barriers. They supervise and liberalise international trade
What is a good and bad thing about the WTO?
+ promotes free trade through the gradual reduction in tariffs
+ trade without discrimination
- not a completely free trade bloc
- trade rules are unfavourable to developing economies
How many people do Walmart employ ( case study TNCs) impact on world)
2.3 million people worldwide
What is the case study for TNCs in superpowers
Disney
How is Disney involved in many global activities?
- 14 theme parks and resorts
- over 250 TV companies
- 12 publishing companies
- hundreds of shops worldwide
What have Disney done to target different parts of the world?
- lion king aimed at African markets
- Aladdin aimed at asian markets
- Mulan marked Disney’s decision to enter the Chinese market
- media influences all across the world
How is there spreading of Americanisation?
Through art, food and media mostly originating from there
How is westernisation affecting places around the world?
- social media’s increase in use is making people more connected as people across the world can communicate, exchange messages share knowledge
- programs such as friends and Simpson’s are available in almost every country in the world on every airline and every streaming channel
What global action has taken place to resolve crisis response?
Britain contributed 1.5 billion dollars of air to the humanitarian crisis in syria
What global action has taken place to prevent conflict?
UK uses programmes to help Middle Eastern and North African regions. On some occasions military action has been used to prevent conflict
What global action has taken place for climate change mitigation?
Reduction in greenhouse emissions at the conference of the parties
Collapse of the Soviet Union helped to reduce the number of polluting factories and inefficient state farms and the slowdown in China’s economy
What’s an example of a military alliance?
USA - helped in Afghanistan’s conflict they recruited Muslim fighters and weapons to fight against the Soviet Union
USA and France - Haiti hurricane in 2016 provided 550 personnel as well has humanitarian aid
What is an example of economic alliances?
UN - Haiti earthquake in 2016 UNIVEF sought out $5 billion from UN funds to provide aid for hundreds of children in need
NAFTA - free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico
EU - free trade between 28 member states
What is an example of environmental alliances?
Kiribati - sand has to be imported from Australia to maintain the land as it is disappearing
What is geostrategy?
The strategy requires in dealing wirh geopolitical problems
Who is in the United Nations security council?
5 permanent any members:
China, France, USA, Great Britain and Russia
They are the only countries with veto power
What are the aims of the UNSC?
To keep international peace and security
Encourage friendship among nations
What are some roles the UNSC have?
UN peacekeepers - for natural disasters and civil war
Hold climate change conferences and make progress at each one - eg all developed countries have to deduce their greenhouse gas’s emittions
Who are the largest emitters of CO2 and why?
USA -
large population consumption
Depend on cars
Air travel due to number of states
CHINA -
Large population
Factories
Heavily dependant on coal
Who are the biggest leaders in climate change?
EU - trading scheme was the first major carbon trading market and remains the biggest today
Who are not helping to tackle climate change?
USA - backed out of the Kyoto protocol and instead shifted to non renewable sources of energy (fracking)
Reasons fo environmental degradation?
Land scarring - 2030 5% of Amazon will be irreversibly damaged
Removal of forests - many thousands of species have been removed and 50% will be extinct soon
Oil spills - shell in Nigeria and artic
What are China’s willingness to act to reduce carbon emissions?
- China renewable energy law
- agreed to work toward emissions peak in 2014 but only started in 2016
- China burns most coal in the world leading to air pollution
- large car ownership and heavy traffic congestion’s has contributed to air pollution
2020 goal - nuclear and wind power will increase as well as the development of the three gorges dam and solar farm - largest in the world
What are EUs willingness to reduce carbon emissions?
Targets by 2030
- 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions
- global warming has to be limited to below 2 degrees
- EU has committed to the second phase of the Kyoto protocol
Case study for growing middle class?
China
How are China’s growing middle class contributing to climate change?
- increasing consumptions is foodstuffs and consumer goods - meat perfume and coffee
- more residents installing shower and toilets which is exceeding water consumption by 70%
- over 1 billion Chinese use a mobile phone - crude oil and metals are used to make plastics, phone batteries contain toxic chemicals
- increases carbon emissions from high energy consumption
