Superpowers

• A superpower is a nation which has the ability to project its influence around the world.
• Global influence means a superpower has a big say in decision making and is often a global force for change.
• The four pillars of Superpower status are: Economic, Military, Political & Ideology, Cultural.
• Economic power enables a nation to control trade, invest in a strong military force, exploit natural resources, and own the debt of other nations.
• Military power allows a nation to use their military to threaten or invade other countries or to achieve geo-political goals like UN Peacekeeping Missions.
• Political & Ideology power involves influencing other countries in a way which suits their desires or matches their political systems.
• Cultural power involves projecting a nation’s cultural values on others to change the way other populations think and align their ideology with the superpower’s culture.
• After recent attacks in the West, governments value their intelligence services.
• With the rise of international incidents, such as Russian nerve agent poisonings in the UK, the need for espionage on other states may increase.
• With changing attitudes towards nuclear deterrents, such as ICAN being awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2017, they may prove unfavourable in the future.
• The USA, EU, Russia, Japan, China, and India are among the countries that invest the most in space exploration, with investments ranging from $17.6 bn to $1.3 bn.
• Many countries now have space exploration programmes, which may prove profitable in the future, as the exploration of Mars may provide countries with natural resources and new energy sources.
• In 2016, the UK parliament voted in favour of renewing Trident, their nuclear weapons programme, despite it costing from £100-250 billion over 50 years.
• Resources, both physical like oil and gas, and human like a large human workforce, can be used to exercise superpower status.
• The Power Spectrum describes the different approaches a country may have in influencing their power or culture on another.
• Hard power involves using military and direct political intervention to change or influence the behaviour of other countries.
• Soft power involves attracting national governments and individuals to a country through an attractive culture, sought-after political advice, foreign policies that encourage migration, trade alliances, and foreign direct investment in business, infrastructure or facilities.
• Bi-polar world – Where there are two main superpowers with opposing ideas and ideologies e.g. the USA and USSR during the Cold War.
• Criticisms of Rostow’s model include that it is based largely on American and European development, and therefore ignores the stages of growth other nations who do not fit this mould may go through.
• Colonial Era – The British Empire ruled a quarter of the world’s land and a third of the world’s population during its peak.
• Rostow’s model can be closely linked to Clarke-Fisher’s Model, as a country progresses through stages of modernisation, the composition of its economic industries will change.
• This change can lead to different possible scenarios: Unipolar world – One country dominates e.g. the USA currently or the British Empire during colonial times.
• Rostow believed that countries pass through five stages as they grow economically and become developed.
• Multi-polar world – Where there are several powers and emerging powers competing for power and global influence.
• Types of Polarity: A nation’s power is not fixed, many interacting factors can lead to a country gaining or losing power.
• In an increasingly connected globalised world, the development of a country may be limited by international politics or competition for trade by other states.
• Rostow’s Model only considers a country in isolation from the world, where the development is the sole responsibility of the country itself.
• In the past, relationships between the core and periphery were purely exploitative and the periphery was forced to provide their natural resources through means of hard power such as military force or occupation.
• Our current uni-polar world is rapidly changing as emerging superpowers start to take a seat at the global table.
• Mackinder’s Geo-Strategic Location Theory classified a region of Eurasia as the ‘Heartland’, which stretches from Russia to China and from the Arctic to the Himalayas.
• The theory argues that whoever controls the Heartland would control large amounts of physical and human resources.
• Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory identifies two different economic areas within the world - the core and the periphery.
• Core regions are economic powerhouses and therefore control most aspects of global trade such as trade agreements and trading currency.
• The core regions trade with those in the periphery who often provide labour and materials for the core nations.
• Rivers throughout China have been polluted with chemicals from factories.
• The WEF is a Swiss not-for-profit organisation which promotes public-private co-operation, meeting every year in Davos where there are thousands of politicians, delegates, economists etc.
• Resources in Asia could lead to severe shortages, high prices and conflict over resources.
• The World Bank and IMF provide loans to developing countries aiming to help the country develop, but have been criticised for providing funds for projects that have been unethical and have damaged the environment.
• Stability in the global power structure could lead to countries forming their own alliances and another Cold War could occur.
• The WTO aims to ensure free global trade and opportunities are equal for all countries, but has been criticised for failing to stop developed nations from protecting its own industries.