Topic 7: EQ1 Flashcards
What is a super power?
A nation with the ability to project its influence anywhere in the world and be a dominant global force.
It originates from the later 1940s when it was used to describe the three dominant world powers at the time: the USA, USSR and British Empire.
What is the difference between an emerging and a regional superpower?
Emerging superpowers are those nations whose economic, military and political influence is already large and is growing. Regional powers, however, are smaller. They influence other countries at a continental scale (e.g South Africa within Africa)
What must a superpower have the majority of to be considered a superpower?
-well known/spread culture
-Large demographic
-good access to resources
-Political power
-Economic strength
-Military strength
-Physical size
Why is economic power important in being a superpower?
They will:
-Control investment which will lead to bigger profits (half of global investment is passed through London)
-Have powerful currencies, which helps bring economic stability (the EU and USA controls 40% of global GDP)
-Will be in stable trade blocs and be part of economic organisations (such as G20), which will allow them to determine global economic policies which suit them.
-They also heavily influence which developing nations receive aid, and the conditions under which its given.
Why is military power important for a superpower?
This can be utilised in two ways:
1) Having the threat of military action is a useful bargaining chip (many superpowers also have nuclear weapons)
2) Military force can be used to achieve geopolitical goals.
Superpowers will also likely have a military which has the potential to have a global presence, either through a blue water navy, drones, missiles or nuclear weapons and this ‘global reach’ is just as important as the size of the military itself. The USA has the biggest military spending (US$597 billion in 2016), followed by China.
What is a blue water navy?
This is a Navy which can deploy into the open ocean, i.e with large, ocean-going ships. Many smaller nations may only have green water navy’s which police the nation’s coastlines only (e.g China’s military which focuses on security of the South China Sea despite being a massive nation, as this sea has many disputed territories).
How is cultural power important for a superpower nation?
This includes how appealing a nation’s way of life, value and ideology (sets of beliefs and opinions upheld by the majority of the society) are to others. These will often be shown through: films, art, food, clothing or religion.
How can physical resources be important for superpower nations?
Having available to resources such as fossil fuels, minerals and land will all be necessary for economic development, and therefore nations with these resources hold significant power (e.g Russia with gas).
However, this power may be limited even with these resources if the resources the country owns holds little value (e.g Iron ore in Australia), or is predominantly owned by TNCs (e.g Shell and BP own most of Nigeria’s oil).
Why is having a good demographic crucial for a superpower?
Demographic weighting is important for superpowers because:
-Large populations will lead to more sustainable growth economically
-Can make use of cheap labour to promote growth (e.g China and India)
-There will be a larger market to sell goods and grow as an economy (E,g free trade within the EU - which has a population of 500million)
-The UK has made use on inward migration of workers (skilled and unskilled) since 1990.
-However, some nations such as Singapore have been able to promote significant economic growth and political influence without large populations.
How can different superpower characteristics interweave?
Many nations regard membership of the UN Security Council as the ultimate status of military power, but also has a big role in political power.
There are only 5 permanent Security Council members (UK, USA, Russia, China and France), and they mainly approve military intervention when it is justified in particular conflicts.
As other nations grow economically and militarily (E.g India and Israel), they are now being considered as permanent members.
Why is political power important for superpowers?
If countries have strong democracies and are involved in many organisations then they’re likely to hold a lot of global political power.
The most influential group used to be the G8, but as there has now been a global shift of economic power towards Asia, this has expanded to become the G20, and includes all the BRICs. These groups have a huge say in political globally, for example through deciding a recovery plan for the 2008/9 financial crisis.
-The USA has over 16% of votes in decisions made by the IMF.
Why is the physical size and geographical influence of a country important?
Larger countries will usually have greater resources and influence. They will also be likely to border more counties, which means they will have more neighbours and their relationship with these nations will have a greater impact globally (E.g Russia is in both Europe and Asia and has 14 neighbours, and its influence on neighbours through military action and provision of resources).
What are the pillars of superpower status?
The 4 pillars are: military, political, culture and resources power.
The base of all these is economic power, as without a powerful economy nations won’t have the wealth to build and maintain a powerful military, exploit resources and develop human ones through education.
How can the 4 pillars of superpower status be use to determine the overall power of a nation?
Only the EU, USA and China can be considered true superpowers. However, even for China, their case is weak pended by their lack of political, and especially cultural influence.
Similarly, it could be argued that the EU actually lacks economic power as it is made up of 27 different nations, as well as the UK which voted to leave in 2016.
Which nations are superpower nations?
-USA
-China
-EU
-Russia
-India
-Brazil
-Japan
-South Africa
What is the difference between hard and soft power?
Soft power is the power of persuasion, which some countries are able to use to make others follow their lead by making policies attractive and appealing.
Hard power is when a country gets its own way through force.
What did Joseph Nye argue about hard and soft power?
He said the most powerful countries will utilise ‘smart power’. This is when a combination of hard and soft mechanisms are used to achieve their aim.
Why is ‘smart power’ necessary?
-Hard power such as invasions, war and conflict will often not go as planned, and fail to achieve their aims.
-Soft power alone may not be enough to persuade a nation to do as another says, especially if they’re very different culturally and ideologically.
What are some examples of hard power?
-Military action and conquest, or the threat of it.
-The creation of alliances, both economic and military, to marginalise some nations. (E.g the US confronting the actions of the Taliban)
-The use of economic sanctions to damage a nation’s economy (e.g when a trade embargo was places on South Africa, to force them to change their apartheid policies).
What are some examples of economic power?
-Economic or development aid from one nation to another
-Signing favourable trade agreements to increase economic ties
What are some examples of soft power?
-The cultural attractiveness of some nations, making it more likely that others will follow their lead.
-The values and ideology of some nations being seen as appealing
-The moral authority of a nation’s foreign policy.
How is the UK’s soft power important to maintain its superpower status?
-UK has many top universities, which allows for a demographic of many skilled graduates to be in the country. This attracts many TNCs to have HQs here, making it an economic superpower.
-The UK tourism industry generates over £200bn in revenue each year. Much of this can be reinvested to to developing the Uk infrastructure and systems, which will help maintain its strong education and defence sectors, maintaining its superpower status.
What three factors help maintain soft power?
-History: Families from all over the world send their kids to prestigious universities in the UK. Lots of influence through the UK’s commonwealth. Also a high respect for the UK legal system.
-Culture: e.g the BBC in the UK is a major international broadcaster. English is the worlds 2nd most spoken language. Gained lots of international interest after the 2012 Olympic Games.
-Diplomacy: The UK has one of the largest networks of embassies. Britain is in many international groups, and is hugely influential in economic decision making and economic sanctions around the world.
What was Mackinder’s ‘heartland’ theory?
-He made a geo-strategic location theory, which argues that whoever controlled Europe and Asia would control the world. The heartland was the ‘world island’ and consisted of Eastern Europe and Russia.
-He suggested that the further a country was from the homeland, the less influence that it would end up having on, these countries were in ‘marginal crescent locations’.
Who should hold the world’s global power according to the geo strategic location theory?
Russia, due to its location and wide land mass offering abundant resources. However, it also has many issues:
-It has a high chance of being attacked from its 14 borders.
-As much of the coast is at high latitudes, it is often frozen and therefore there are only a few ports which are operating Year round.
What has caused the global shift of geo strategic positioning?
-Initially was shifted west due to the Britains 19th Century sea power from industrialisation.
-However, with Asia’s rising development in recent years (especially in China since 1978), the ‘heartland’ is shifting back further east now the western pull from UK and USA’s industrialisation has settled. The pull east between 2000-10 was the fastest in history
Is hard power or soft power more important today?
Despite hard power still playing vital importance in many scenarios (e.g the Russia Ukraine conflict), so,e say it is losing its importance due to many powerful nations resisting actually taking action. (E.g Obama never took action on Middle East Chemical weapon use despite stating he would), and therefore it can be argued that the role of soft power is becoming increasingly important.
Why was the Mackinded ‘Heartland’ theory influential?
It contributed to many policies of containment e.g:
-Attempts after the 1st world war to limit Germany’s ability to expand its land area.
-NATOs post WW2 efforts to stop Russia expanding further into Europe.
What are the three different types of geopolitical polarity?
-Unipolar: A world dominated by one superpower (The British Empire)
-Bi-polar: A world in which two superpowers with opposing ideologies (e,g USA and USSR in the Cold War
-Multi-polar: Where many superpowers and emerging powers compete for power in different regions.
Why was the British Empire an example of a unipolar world?
By 1920, the British empire ruled over 20% of the world’s population and 25% of its land area. This was largely due to the Royal Navy being able to dominate the worlds oceans, protecting colonies and the trading routes between them and Britain. In 1914, the British Navy was twice as big as the next largest (Germany).
This empire was built in two phases: the Mercantile phase (1600-1850), and the Imperial phase (1850-1945).
What is a Colony?
This is when a country exerts direct control over other territories conquered by mainly European powers in the period 1600-1900. They were ruled by force, and almost no power was given to the original population.
How did India become a British colony?
1)British military personnel and civil servants emigrated to India.
2)They educated Indians (e,g to speak English) and occupied many lower administrative positions
3)Symbols of imperial power demonstrated Britain’s imperial wealth and technical prowess.
4)Acculturation was undertaken as British traditions, such as cricket and afternoon tea were introduced.
5)A strict social order was maintained that differentiated the ruling white British from the Indians.
-India was then modernised (especially with 61,000km of rail) for efficient movement of troops to prevent Indian rebellion, as well as the efficient transport of goods (e,g herbs and spices) to ports for export to Britain.
