western capitalist economies
- they’re capitalist i.e people own businesses and employ workers, and make profits for themselves
- promotes free trade in goods and services across borders
- are dominated by private enterprise, rather than government-owned companies
- promote wealth creation and accumulation by companies and individuals
World Bank
lends money to developing and emerging economies to promote economic development
this is done within a western capitalist model
the money originates from developed economies
World Trade Organisation
works to remove barriers to international trade
has negotiated a sequence of global free trade agreements that have gradually removed trade taxes and quotas
International Monetary Fund
promotes global economic stability
aids economies in opening up to word trade and investment
comes to the aid of countries in economic difficulty
World Economic Forum
a Swiss non-profit organisation
it acts as a forum for discussion between businesses, politicians and IGOs
it is pro-free trade and pro-TNCs
public TNCs
owned by shareholders
e.g Apple, Tesco, Shell, Zara
state-led TNCs
owned by governments
e.g Bank of China, EDF and Petronas
things superpowers are expected to do in times of crisis
- intervening in war and conflict, especially when as internal conflict threatens to spill-out into other countries
- taking action in terms of crisis response e.g natural disaster, famine or a serious disease outbreak
- responding to terrorism, such as the threat from ISIS or Al Qaeda
- responding to longer-term threats, such as climate-change-induced global warming
allies
- the ‘eyes and ears’ in distant parts of the world, spotting trouble as it develops
- increase the networks of military assets spread around the world
- political and economic allies can form a large bloc, to force there agenda on the wider world
the UN
- set up in 1945
- it was part of an attempt to create a new world order of peace, prosperity, stability and to avoid further world wars
- the security councils 5 permanent members tend to act as 2 blocs, one being Russia and China and the other being US, UK and France
the UN security council makes decisions on issues such as
- taking military action against countries seen to be breaking international law or persecuting people
- applying economic or diplomatic sanctions to countries, to try to force them to change their behaviour
- the international court of justice upholds international law; its legal framework is a western one, reflecting the fact that the UN was set up by the USA and European powers
- peacekeeping missions can be set up by the UN, sourcing armed forces from member states
these have had some success at ending or preventing conflict, e.g the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s
global environmental governance influenced by superpowers
- the US and China have been reluctant to set emissions reduction targets, whereas the EU has often led in this regard
- EU and US emissions are static or falling but in China emissions are still rising
- China accounted for 29% of global CO2 emissions in 2015, while the US was 14% and the EU was 10%
superpowers environmental concerns
- Chinas focus is largely on economic development not environmental issues
- in the USA concern is quite low, at 45%, theres a long standing ‘climate scepticism’ in the USA
- Europeans are more concerned, Europe has been the most willing to act to try and reduce emissions since 1990
consequences of increase resource demand
- the price of key resources rises as higher demand puts pressure on supply
- availability of resources, especially non-renewable ones, falls as some supplies are used up
how will the rise of middle-class consumption affect the physical environment
- more mining, oil drilling and deforestation in the quest to access raw materials
- increased carbon emissions from higher energy consumption and more factories
- problems disposing of consumer waste in landfill sites and incinerators
- more use of water, and therefore more polluted waste water
