Topic 7: Superpowers Flashcards
1
Q
Superpower definition:
A
- a country with dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, sometimes in more than one region of the globe at one time.
2
Q
What are the key factors which can help assess superpower status?
A
- physical size and position
- economic power and influence
- demographic factors
- political factors
- military strength
- cultural influence
- access to natural resources
3
Q
Physical size and position:
A
- important as they determine the area over which a country has potential influences.
- larger countries usually have greater resources and influence. For example Russia (17 million km2) is the world’s largest country and as a result controls significant resources - e.g. the Arctic region. Under the influence of Canada and Russia as they are the largest countries bordering the region.
- however Russia’s relations with neighbours are complex as there are 14 of them - varying from Norway to China.
4
Q
Economic power and influence:
A
-
5
Q
Demographic factors:
A
- population size can be key to economic success, e.g. by providing a sufficient labour force to generate economic growth.
- China and India use large populations as a source of cheap labour in manufacturing.
- large population spurs economic growth as it provides a market. E.g. the EU member states have access to a single market of over 500 million people.
- However a large population isn’t critical to power, e.g. Singapore’s population is around 4 million although has a major influence of southeast Asia’s economy through attracting investment.
6
Q
Political factors:
A
- few individual countries hold much influence in their own right. Therefore most have decided that greater influence can vary achieved by linking up with like-minded countries.
- in 1960, OECD began with 20 of the world’s most developed economies as founding members, and it now has 35. Its aim is to produce and promote global development by sharing common issues and policies.
- other international organisations have superseded OECD - for example G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, USA) and the G20. Moreover between its members it represents half of the global population.
7
Q
Military strength:
A
- major influence in deterring power. Most countries use military forces tool protect themselves against challengers.
- however, military is often less significant than national defence budgets and technologies. The USA dominates all over countries in terms of military budget and capability, with 37% of all global military spending.
- China has expanded its military and their focus ie on the security of the South China Sea. China aims to dominate the seas as far as First Island.
- many countries regard membership of the UN Security Council as the ultimate status in military power. It’s job is mainly a balancing act to approve military intervention only when the intervention is justified in particular conflicts.
8
Q
Cultural influence:
A
- ## increased globalisation has led to a global culture spread via multimedia. TNCs such as Disney or Sony. They dominate global culture by deciding what films people can watch, which radio stations they can listen to and what music is recorded and played.
9
Q
Access to natural resources:
A
10
Q
Hyper power definition:
A
- a completely dominant superpower.
- e.g. Britain from 1850-1910 and the USA from 1990-2010
11
Q
Emerging superpowers definition:
A
- countries which have already large and/or growing economic, military and political influence.
12
Q
Regional powers definition:
A
- countries who have major influence at a continental but not global scale.
- e.g. countries such as South Africa who exert power within the African continent.
13
Q
Hard power definition:
A
- where countries exert power through military force.
14
Q
Soft power definition:
A
- how countries can make themselves look attractive and appealing; therefore encouraging others to follow them.
15
Q
What is ‘smart power’?
A
- a combination of hard and soft power.
16
Q
Why is ‘smart power’ needed?
A
- military conflict often doesn’t go as planned and can fail to achieve aims
- soft power may not be enough to persuade countries.
17
Q
Examples of hard power:
A
- threat of military action
- deployment of troops
- military testing
- creation of economic and military alliances (e.g. NATO)
- the use of economic sanctions to damage an economy.
18
Q
Examples of economic power:
A
- economic or development aid from one country to another
- signing favourable trade agreements to increase economic ties.
19
Q
Examples of soft power:
A
- the cultural attractiveness of a nation, e.g. promoting positive ideologies
- the values and ideologies of some nations being seen as attractive
- the moral authority of a nation’s foreign policy.
20
Q
Why is military force kit used as much as it used to be?
A
- ideologies have changed. However, they do still employ the threat of nuclear power when they feel necessary.
- e.g. Russia 2022.
21
Q
Key examples of hard power?
A
- Gulf War and Afghanistan War
- Annexation of Crimea
- Ukraine and Russia
22
Q
Hard power example - Gulf War and Afghanistan War.
A
- US invasion involved hard power to achieve aims by force.
23
Q
Hard power example - Annexation of Crimea:
A
- in 2013 Russia’s actions towards Ukraine resulted in economic sanctions from the EU and the USA.
24
Q
Hard power example - Russia/Ukraine 2022 War:
A
- both sides using hard power while proxy countries are using both hard and soft power.
25
Q
Soft power - UK (diplomacy):
A
- The UK has 281 diplomatic posts in 178 countries and territories
- Relationships have been built over many years through the existence of the Commonwealth and the former countries of the British Empire
- The popularity of the royal family and their role in diplomacy and maintaining international relations
26
Q
Soft power - UK (culture):
A
- British literature - Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen
- Music - Elgar through the Beatles to Adele,
Art - from Constable to Barbara Hepworth - The BBC is one of the world’s most trusted broadcasters
- Television - Downtown Abbey and The Crown have worldwide popularity (73 million people watched The Crown and Downtown Abbey is viewed in 250 countries)
- Over 500,000 overseas students study in the UK each year - 1 in 4 countries around the world have a head of state or government who was educated in the UK
- The British Council reaches over 100 million people in 100 countries
27
Q
Theories:
A
- ‘Heartland’ - Mackinder
- Rostow’s model of take off (1960)
- Dependency theory (1960)
- Wallerstein’s world systems theory (1974)
28
Q
What is the Heartland theory?
A
- known as the geo-strategic location theory, argued that whoever controlled Europe and Asia would control the world.
- whoever ruled the most strategic part of Europe would command the heartlands, whoever controlled the heartland would control the world island, ie. Europe and Russia. Whoever controlled the world island ruled the world.
- the further away from the heartland a country was, the less influence it would have shown as the ‘Inner or Marginal crescent’.
29
Q
What is Rostow’s model of takeoff?
A
- Rostow: economic supervisor
- war may divert sources from original plan
- provides governments clear course of development
- economic growth tends to lead to better jobs and living standards.
30
Q
What are the five stages of Rostow’s Take-off model?
A
1) traditional society: subsistence society, rural economy, agriculture
2) pre-conditions for take-off: specialisation, surpluses, infrastructure, needs education and skill development
3) take off: industrialisation, growing investment, regional growth, political change
4) drive to maturity: diversification, innovation, less reliance on imports, investment
5) high mass consumption: consumer orientated, durable goods flourish, service sector becomes dominant.
31
Q
Problems with Rostow’s model?
A
- westernised model: cannot really be applied to all countries.
- very characteristic of US policy in 1960s - improving economy
- lacks environmental care - some may not agree with the model due to the drive to improvement. E.g. not supporting industrial revolution and high mass consumption
- what happens after high mass consumption? Some economies are not as good as what they used to be.
32
Q
What is the dependency theory?
A
- developing nations are dependent in high income countries
- poverty is maintained due to low profits, therefore periphery countries rely on core countries.
- periphery and core countries.
33
Q
Dependency theory - periphery countries:
A
- e.g. Kenya and Nigeria
- low income countries
- sell natural resources to the core countries
- experience negative terms of trade as they are selling low and buying high - leads to a net loss of income (kept poor)
- farming is a dominant industry
- tariffs and taxes on goods for periphery countries leads to further depletion.
34
Q
Dependency theory - core countries:
A
- high income countries
- e.g. the USA
- using the natural resources, HICs manufacture goods, e.g. cars
- manufactured goods are then returned to periphery countries for higher prices
35
Q
Problems with the dependency theory?
A
- quite limiting - which countries are periphery and which are poor. Doesn’t make this establishment.
36
Q
What is Wallerstein’s world systems theory?
A
- a response to the dependency theory.
- aimed to introduce a middle stage known as the semi-periphery.
- its clear that countries can possibly climb the economic ladder and move between stages.
- looks at work system as a whole
- global understanding of TNCs. Interaction between different countries, e.g. TNCs in USA may interact with China, India etc. Western TNCs operate in LICs such as Zambia at low costs.
- the previous theory talks about resources however unfair trade rules may be placed on countries.
- FDI : China investing into Africa - semi-periphery are involved in exploitation.
37
Q
Problems with World Systems Theory?
A
- still categories countries into core, semi-periphery and periphery.
- narrow: inequalities exist within certain countries, e.g. China. Therefore it isn’t accurate.
38
Q
What is the Kondratieff Waves?
A
- cycle of economic influences
- kondratieff didn’t know what would happen in the future however the cycle appears to be correct.
- fifth cycle is a result of an increase in globalisation - developed countries shifted into service industries and technology became the economic driver.
- it was thought that the sixth wave focused on healthcare. The shift to better technology, e.g. development of solar panels and wind farms etc.
39
Q
Unipolar definition:
A
- power system in which there is one country or area holding the power. For example, the British Empire, other empires and the USA in recent years.
40
Q
Bipolar definition:
A
- power systems where two states hold the power, they both have influences and alliances, e.g. Cold War.
41
Q
Multipolar definition:
A
- power system where power is distributed between more than two states, e.g. the Concert of Europe (after Napoleonic wars where Europe worked well together)
42
Q
What is neo-colonialism?
A
- modern form of control and is an indirect form of control
- it means that some countries do not have full control over themselves
43
Q
Indirect control - post WW11:
A
- UK’s role in WW1 and WW11, in addition to the Great Depression led to the collapse of the country as a superpower.
- the period after WW11 saw the rise of the USA and USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republicans) to from a bi-polar world.
- the result of this was the Cold War.
44
Q
Cold War - military influence:
A
- military alliances developed with countries supporting both USA and USSR.
- NATO countries were those supporting the USA.
- a collective treaty was developed by the USSR - known as the Warsaw Pact and included countries such as Albania, East Germany, Poland and Hungary
- nuclear arms race in which both countries spent millions increasing their nuclear arsenal.
45
Q
Cold War - economic influence:
A
46
Q
Cold War - cultural influence:
A
- The use of cultural mediums such as TV, film and books was used throughout the Cold War to influence people’s views and beliefs.
+ e.g. ‘How to spot a communist’ videos shown in US schools
+ anti-communist and pro-American values were widely promoted. - US boycotted 1980 Olympics as they were held in Moscow, whilst USSR boycotted 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
- the space race was n extension of the tensions between USA and USSR.
47
Q
Cold War - political influence:
A
- divided the world into capitalist and communist ideologies.
- Europe’s eastern countries became communist whilst the west was capitalist.
- this was divided by the ‘Iron Curtain’
48
Q
What are the BRICS countries?
A
- have been identified as rising economic power.
- Richard Sacse predicted in 2000 that there would be rapid economic growth in four countries, which these being Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
49
Q
What roles do other countries now have in global governance?
A
- growing influences in key IGOs, such as the World Bank, China has a huge economic base which equals political power, however is still limited.
- financial power is in London, New York and Paris.
50
Q
Largest economies in 2050?
A
- largest economy will be China, with the USA being in 3rd.
- emerging economies of Asia (India and Indonesia) are growing so rapidly that they are likely to be major players by 2050.
- there may be some countries which are no longer considered as economic superpowers, e.g. Germany and the UK.
51
Q
Do the BRICS rival the USA or EU?
A
- don’t yet rival USA as economic superpowers as the combined GDP SAS $16.4 trillion (2014). This was 8% less than the USA.
- China accounts for 60% of the GDP and if China were excluded the group seems a lot less powerful.
52
Q
What are the problems currently facing superpower status of the BRICS countries?
A
- HDI: wealth isn’t distributed and human development remains low despite high levels of monetary value.
- large populations can be limiting
- high population growth leads to high mortality and more issues in cities which may not always be a positive.
53
Q
India - development data:
A
- HDI: 0.586
- GNI: $10 trillion
- life expectancy: 70
- literacy rate: 74%
- Gini coefficient: 35
- Gender Equality Index: 46th of 132 countries.
54
Q
India - strengths:
A
- averaged 7% annual GDP growth between 1997 and 2015.
- world’s largest democracy with 672 million voters. It was also a founding member of the UN and G20.
- India is ranked as the world’s fourth largest military power in terms of its weaponry and personnel.
- English speaking education system: high member of graduates. Therefore there is the ability to work in globalised markets. Lots of investments into universities.
- leading in IT within the world.
- amongst the world’s leading biodiversity - large tourist industry
- birthplace of four world religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism)
- Bollywood is the world’s largest film industries. Produces 1,200 films annually.
- fully self-sufficient in food production.
- investment into renewable energy - world’s biggest user of biogas.
55
Q
India - weaknesses:
A
- government is facing large debt. Led to a reduction in the value of the rupee. However this is compared to the dollar.
- 20% of India’s population live in poverty.
- India has the world’s worst environmental problems; with serious pollution.
- world’s third largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
- poor infrastructure of water and energy supply, as well as transport. Power cuts are frequently - July 2012: affected 620 million people.
- the River Ganges is the worlds most polluted river.
- overpopulation: second largest population globally with 1.2 billion. This is behind China which has 1.4 billion.
- top 1% of the rich people in India hold 50% of all money within the country.
56
Q
Is India a superpower?
A
…
57
Q
China - development data:
A
- HDI: 0.752
- GNI: $27 trillion
- life expectancy: 78
- literacy rate: 99.8%
- Gini coefficient: 40.6
- Gender Equality Index: 39th of 132 countries.
58
Q
China - strengths:
A
- China has a large spending amount of $216.4 billion annually
- major player in global investment, particularly in Africa
- China has a huge manufacturing industry
- large workforce due to a population of 1.4 billion
- large middle class and therefore spending power
59
Q
China - weaknesses:
A
- China’s GDP is only 10% of the USA’s, wealth is yet to be spread among its population
- isolated in terms of international migration - unlike USA which attracts global talent. It may need immigration to supplement future recruitment among young people
- ageing population
- huge debts due to heavy investments overseas
- poor geopolitical relations - limits negotiations
- culturally weaker than USA or western culture
- ongoing COVID-19: weakened relations with other countries due to China’s handling of the virus and it’s been suggested it originated in China.
60
Q
Is China a superpower?
A
- yes, one of six major superpowers.
- however, doesn’t yet compare to USA although will in the future.
61
Q
Brazil - development data:
A
- HDI: 0.755
- GNI: $3.3 trillion
- life expectancy: 76
- literacy rate: 99%
- Gini coefficient: 48.9
- Gender Equality Index: 57th of 132 countries.
62
Q
Brazil - strengths:
A
- produces half of South America’s GDP (2015). Dominates power in South America.
- had huge natural resources and is self-sufficient in both food and energy. Agricultural superpower: 3rd largest producer of iron ore, 15th largest of oil, 3rd largest of HEP.
- supports global initiatives, e.g. UN conference on climate change, and is a leader in using ethanol.
- has a global reputation as a footballing nation. It hosted the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
- famous for its Rio carnival.
63
Q
Brazil - weaknesses:
A
- Brazil also has major environmental issues - e.g. deforestation in the Amazon, illegal poaching and pollution due to oil spills and mining activities.
- relies on primary produces for exports, rather than manufacturing - weakened economy.
- has been politically unstable in recent years with accusations of corruption as well as protests annually since 2013. Recently the PM. was impeached for corruption.
- population is ageing and the fertility rate fell from 1969 to 1.8 in 2015.
- spends over 60% of South America’s total military budget but the military in Brazil is the least significant of the BRICS.
- crime; public are concerned for safety - deters tourists.
64
Q
Is Brazil a superpower?
A
…
65
Q
Russia - development data:
A
- HDI: 0.824
- GNI: $4.7 trillion
- life expectancy: 71
- literacy rate: 99.6%
- Gini coefficient: 36
- Gender Equality Index: 45th of 132 countries.
66
Q
Russia - strengths:
A
- ninth largest global economy
- Russia’s history is of global significance. It has a large tourist industry.
- lathe land mass and shared borders - resources such as oil and gas.
- large presence in the Arctic. Well placed geographically - Russia are able to take advantage of natural resources there.
- Russia exert hard power and have a seat on security council.
67
Q
Russia - weaknesses:
A
- very dependent on oil and gas for GDP. Vulnerable to global price inflations.
- economy is unbalanced; manufacturing halved after 1991.
- 2014: very unequal distribution of wealth. For example, 85% of total wealth was in the hands of 110 people, and the richest 1% controlled 71% of the country’s wealth.
- large population problems.
- between 1991 and 2015, Russia’s population declined in 21 of the 25 years.
- Russia has a pollution legacy from industrialising between 1940 and 1960.
- the rate of alcoholism is extremely high - the life expectancy in Russia should be about 80 years.
68
Q
Is Russia a superpower?
A
…
69
Q
South Africa - development data:
A
- HDI: 0.710
- GNI: $852 billion
- life expectancy: 65
- literacy rate: 95%
- Gini coefficient: 63. Most unequal countries globally.
- Gender Equality Index: 61st of 132 countries.
70
Q
Strengths of South Africa:
A
- highly diverse culture
- good European links, due to metal trade and historic links
- vast natural reserves, including copper and gold
- strong location for outsourcing
- democratic country
- strong GDP growth of 5% in 2021.
- young population
- developed financial markets
- regional African power
71
Q
Weaknesses of South Africa:
A
- 29% unemployment rate: extremely high.
- high crime rate - mostly attributed to inequalities.
- high incident rate of water disasters such as floods, etc.
- vulnerable to diseases,e.g. malaria due to a warm climate.
- 22% of the population live in poverty.
- widespread skills shortages - low investment.
- public corruption is common
- poor infrastructure.
- the country has previously suffered from deindustrialisation.
- similarly to Brazil, South Africa is heavily dependent on mineral resources.
72
Q
Is South Africa a superpower?
A
73
Q
Key features of free-market capitalist system:
A
- private ownership of property and possessions
- private ownership of businesses
- waves based on supply and demand as well as skill levels
- the right to make profit and accumulate wealth
- trading of goods in a free market with limited restrictions
74
Q
What are the role of IGOs - global economy:
A
- they help to encourage free trade and free-market capitalism by promoting their values.
- there are four key IGOs who are instrumental in the global economy.
75
Q
What are the four IGOs?
A
- World Trade Organisation (WTO)
- The World Bank
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- World economic forum
76
Q
What is the role of WTO?
A
- responsible for facilitating free trade and removing the barriers.
- can improve quotas, tariffs and rules
- reforming GATT rules
77
Q
Who is influential in WTO?
A
- Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland
- European nations are more influential - e.g. Germany and France.
- USA and China are in conflict. USA: protect domestic and China want to lower prices.
78
Q
What is the role of The World Bank?
A
- responsible for helping developing countries with development projects and providing loans to developing countries in order to build top down bottom up projects.
- countries give/donate money which is then distributed to ensure global development.
- set up in 1944.
79
Q
Who is influential in The World Bank?
A
- USA
- China
- Japan
- Germany
- UK
80
Q
What is the role of International Monetary Fund?
A
- established in 1945.
- provides loans to struggling countries and economies to provide a productive global economy
- monitors trade rates
- gives precautionary loans to prevent damage, e.g. Mexico and the Netherlands
- balances global economy - ensures no country goes back riot or into recession.
