Superpowers Flashcards
What is a superpower?
A nation with the ability to project its infleunce anywhere in the world and be a dominant global force.
What is a hyperpower?
An unchallenged superpower that is dominant in all aspects of power (political, economic, cultural, military); examples include the USA from 1990 to 2010 and the UK from 1850 to 1910.
What is an emerging superpower?
Nations whose economic, military and political infleunce is already large and growing.
What are regional powers?
Smaller power, they infleunce other countries at a continental scale- a good example is South Africa within Africa
What are the pillars of power?
What superpower status depends on, economic power is the base, and then there are 4 pillars- military, political, cultural and reources, which make the temple, which is the superpower status
The pillars of superpower status: What is economic power?
This represents the ‘base’ of the temple and is a prerequisite (requirement) of power. A large and powerful economy that gives nations the wealth to build and maintain a powerful military, exploit natural resources and develop human resources through education.
What is Blue water navy?
One which can deploy into the open ocean, i.e. with large, ocean ships. Many smaller nations only have a green water navy designed to patrol littoral waters, i.e. those close to the coastline.
The pillars of superpower status: What is military power?
This is used in two ways: firstly, the threat of military action is a powerful bargaining chip; secondly, military force can be used to achieve geopotential goals. Some forms of military power, such as a blue water navy, drone, missile and satellite technology, can be deployed globally and reach distant places.
The pillars of superpower status: What is political power?
The ability to infleunce others through diplomacy to ‘get your way’ is important and exercised through international organisations such as the UN and World Trade Organisation, and through bilateral tasks between countries.
The pillars of superpower status: What is cultural power?
Includes how appealing a nation’s way of life, values and ideology are to others, and is often exercised through film, the arts and food.
The pillars of superpower status: What are resources?
Can be in the form of physical resources (fossil fuels, minerals, land) but also human resources. The latter includes level of education and skills in a nation, but also the sheer number of people (‘demographic weight’).
What is soft power?
The power of persuasion. Some countries are able to make others follow their lead by making policies attractive and appealing.
What is hard power?
Getting your own way by force
What are examples of soft power?
- Cultural attractiveness
- Appealing values and ideology
- Moral authority of foreign policy
What are examples of hard power?
- Military action or the threat of it
- Economic and military alliances
- Economic sanction
What is economic power?
Is thought to sit between hard and soft power on the spectrum
What did Joseph Nye suggest the most powerful countries do?
Utilise ‘smart power’, which is a combination of both hard and soft mechanisms to get their own way.
Why is it necessary to used different types of power?
Becuase:
- Invasions, war and conflict are very blunt instruments. They often do not go as planned and fail to achieve the aims of those exercising hard power.
- Soft power alone may not persuade one nation to as another says, especially if they are culturally and ideologically very different.
What is a unipolar world?
A world dominated by one superpower e.g. the British Empire
What is a bipolar world?
A world in which two superpowers, with opposing ideologies, vie for power, e.g. the USA and the USSR during the Cold War.
What is a multipolar world?
A more complex world; many superpowers and emerging powers compete for power in different regions.
