what is a superpower?
- a country with the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, sometimes in more than one region of the globe at a time - Alice Miller
what is a superpower built on?
A superpower is built on the foundation of a strong economy, then maintained by strong military, strong political power, strong cultural power and a large supply of resources.
why is a strong economy important for superpowers?
A good economy means countries can control investment, have powerful currencies eg the dollar, determine global economic policies and earn a large percentage of global GDP, meaning they have more to spend
why is a strong military important for superpowers?
Strong military means a country has the ability to protect itself, and to exert influence by intimidating other countries and even invading them
why are global connections important for superpowers?
good connections means countries have good trade links etc which can boost the economy
why is size/location important for superpowers?
larger countries tend to have greater resources and influence
why is resource access important for superpowers?
possession of key resources gives some leverage over others, but also leads to self reliance in some industries
why is political strength important for superpowers?
countries with a strong government can have great influence worldwide, especially if they link with like minded countries - they can also form alliances and make and regulate laws
why is population size important for superpowers?
large population means a country has a large labour force to generate economic growth
what is hard power?
the expression of a country’s will or influence through military force
what is soft power?
power that arises from a county’s culture, political values and its foreign policies
what is colonialism?
The practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with its own settlers, and exploiting it economically, socially and environmentally.
what is uni polar rule / hedgemony?
In geopolitics this is when one state exercises most of the cultural, economic, and military power and influence over the rest.
what is spheres of influence?
A large geographic area of the world in which another country has power to affect developments even though it has no formal authority.
What are the BRIC emerging superpowers?
Brazil, Russia, India, China
What is modernisation theory
Developed by Rostow in 1960. It is a five-stage model that outlines five phases that countries must pass through to develop and gain more power.
Strengths - provides strong economic foundation as centred around economic growth, allows development status of a country to be easily seen as they will be within one of the 5 stages of development
Weaknesses - does not acknowledge how countries really develop through use of loans and aid, theory is outdated because china and india have developed however they leapfrogged and missed some stages
What is dependency theory?
It split the world into developed core countries and underdeveloped peripheral countries. Suggested that the relationship between the core and periphery helps to maintain and increase the power of the core countries whilst the peripheral countries remain weak.
Strengths - illustrates how countries can develop using exploitation of cheap resources, taking into account inequality between rich and poor, explains why some nations have been held back
Weaknesses - too simple to explain development of countries, underdevelopment can be due to factors other than exploitation by the core such as poor leadership, climate, china and india have developed rapidly despite being cheap manufacturing countries
what is world systems theory?
Was a three-tier model with the core, periphery and semi-periphery. Wallerstein argued that cycles of growth and stagnation which typify capitalist development allow some countries to shift between the tiers, becoming more or less powerful, thereby leading to changing patterns of power over time.
Strengths - appreciates dependency on the core by the periphery and vice versa to an extent, takes into account india and china as semi periphery nations, explains developed vs developing world idea,
Weaknesses - does not take into account internal factors such as poor leadership and corruption in LICS, no clear dividing line between core, semi periphery and periphery
what is the global middle class?
those households with daily expenditure’s between $10 and $50 per person in purchasing power parity terms
how does the growing global middle class affect water? (India)
- Emerging powers eg India already have water supply problems
- India’s situation will likely be critical by 2030, with 60% of areas facing water scarcity
- Water supply in China, Indonesia and Nigeria could be problematic by 2030, especially in urban areas
how does the growing global middle class affect food ?
- Pressure on food in emerging power will result from the nutrition transition and demand for new food types
- Land once used for staple food grains will be converted to produce meat and dairy products
- Without new land, prices could rise, harming the poorest
how does the growing global middle class affect energy?
- Global oil demand was about 95mil barrels per day in 2015; by 2030 this is likely to rise, along with coal and gas demand, perhaps by 30%
- Meeting this price demand may lead to prices rising and/or supply shortages
- Countries with their own domestic supplies (Russia, Brazil) are likely to be in a stronger position than those relying on imports (India)
What is neocolonialism?
Neo-colonialism was first used to describe the continued dependence of former colonies on other countries after their independence. However, it has now become used to describe the exploitative relationship between more powerful developed countries who are using their relationship with less developed countries for their own benefit.
Alternatives to superpowers - The world bank and IMF
- The World Bank and IMF provides loans to developing countries. These loans aim to help the country develop. However, they have both been been criticised due to them providing funds for projects that have been unethical and have damaged the environment e.g. rainforest clearance to make way for developments.
- They have also been criticised because they have given loans to countries who are incapable to pay back their loans.
- The USA and EU have the highest proportion of voting rights within both these organisations, so their interests are closely tied with the IGOs, rather than the interests of the indebted countries.
