Superpower Geography

Definitions: “Superpowers are countries with disproportionate power and influence. Usually
large countries in terms of population and physical extent. Physical size may provide a large
natural resources base, which the country could draw on, as with Russia.

“A superpower must be able to conduct a global strategy, command vast, economic

potential and influence and present a universal ideology.” – (Professor Paul Dukes,
University of Aberdeen)

“A nation with the means to project its power and influence anywhere in the world, and to
be a dominant global force.

The USA is considered to be the only current superpower due to the fact that:
 It has a large population – 305 million - 4.6% of the world’s total
 Large GDP and strong economy – $13.8 trillion - 25% of the worlds’ total
 Military spending - $711 billion – 48% of world’s total
 Number of the world’s largest 2000 TNCs – 598 – 30% of the world’s total
 CO2 output – 6 billion tonnes – 22% of world’s total
 Business Week Interbrand survey – 53 of the top 100 brands by value originate from
the USA – 1) Coca-Cola, 2) IBM, 3) Microsoft, 4) General Electric, 5) Nokia
Old Superpowers – Rise and Fall
The British Empire – 1600-1945. Split into three distinct phases.

Mercantilist Phase – 1600-1850

 Small colonies set up – New England, Jamaica, Accra, Bombay
 Focus on trade, advent of slave trade.
 Private Trading Companies – Royal AFRICAN Company, East India Company.

Imperial Phase – 1850-1945

 Religion and British Culture, cricket, and language introduced to colonies
 Complex trade networks set up – naval
 Use of technology such as railways and telegraphs (**CAN BE LINKED SYNOPTICALLY
TO TECH. FIX**)

Decolonisation Phase – 1945-

 Post WW2, UK is effectively bankrupt and cannot support the empire
 Anti-Colonial movements – India with M. Ghandi’s peaceful protests. Some colonies
are granted independence
 Postwar construction in the UK means that last few colonies gain independence by
1970.

As a result, a legacy was left behind by the British Empire, still retaining 14 overseas
territories. Commonwealth is a collection of 53 independent states. Arguably a superpower
in itself.
Old Superpowers – Rise and Fall
The Cold War – The USA and the USSR

1945-1980 – Bi-Polar World between the USA and USSR

USA
At the time, the USA maintained its superpower position by:
 Being the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial and consumer goods
 Produced goods and finance to rebuild Europe afterWW2.
 The US Dollar ($) was the world’s major currency by 1950
 US military spending superseded any other nations expenditure

USSR
The USSR as a superpower

 By 1941, had the industrial strength to take on and defeat Hitler, and supersede
Britain in terms of economy.
 Under the harsh authoritarian regime of Stalin, a series of Five-Year Plans were drawn
up.
 Industrial production multiplied several times over
 Steel industries were located away from places of potential attack.
 Military spending increased greatly

The fall of the USSR

Economic Stagnation: by the 1980s, there was zero economic growth, development of the
black market for consumer goods, could not produce enough grain, rationing of food,
consumer goods were inferior, poor use of resources (Pipeline)

Military Spending: 15-25% of GNP, Americans spent only 5-7%, too much on guns, not
enough on butter.

Political Stagnation and Corruption: Party officials lived a privileged life, they did not want
reform when it was most needed.

Ideology: Command economy, complete centralized planning, individual initiative is replaced

by quotas and threats.

Nationalism: 50% of the population was not Russian, the non-Russian ethnic groups would
fuel the break-up in combination with economic problems and the unwillingness of the new
Russian government to turn guns on its own people, like they had before.
 By the end of December 1991, with the signing of the Commonwealth of Independent States
document by Gorbachev, on Christmas Day, many of the USSR member states wanted to gain
independence. Ukraine is an example of the first.

Mikael Gorbachev really fucked things up for USSR. By introducing two changes to government
proceedings in the country, he pretty much ended the USSR’s superpower dominance.

Perestroika – allowed businesses to privately trade. Russian farmers produced surplus and sold
this off instead, for more fruitful returns.

Glasnost – allowed greater political freedom, including freedom of speech, and of the Press,
plus allowed rival political parties to materialise.

Gorbachev’s changes meant that trade, private investment and personal wealth could be
created for individuals, by individuals.

Russia’s rise back to fame

Due to the country’s vast natural resource reserves, Russia was able to more comfortably
recuperate after its fall in the early 1990s. With the world’s largest supply of natural gas, and
the second largest amount of oil, behind Saudi Arabia, it has been these two essential
commodities which have fuelled Russia’s growth since 1999. Others include:
 Huge loans from IMF which help to avert economic collapse in 1990s.
 The economic and resource dependant nations of China and India meant that Russia’s
reserves became very valuable indeed. 50% stake in Gazprom, Russia’s largest energy
company, of which profits have benefitted the Russian government greatly.
 With new government headed by Vladimir Putin, being sworn in as Russia’s new
president in 2000, removing Boris Yeltsin (crackhead!!!! Look at videos of him on
youtube.) Wealth was stimulated and things got better.
 GDP at the end of Yeltsin’s reign - $300 billion –GDP at the end of Putin’s reign - $600
billion.
The BRIC nations
 In China, 200 million people moved out of poverty between 1990 and 2005.
 India’s middle class has swelled to over 200 million
 In Brazil, the number of households with an annual income between $5900-$22,000
grew from 14.3 million to 22.3 million. Those earning less than $3,000 fell by 1.3
million.
 Has lead to people having a wealthier and happier quality of life, with greater
immunity to diseases and other illnesses. More people alive mean greater input to
the economy of the proposed country over time.
Countr GDP in 2007, Estimated GDP in 2050, per capita Ecological Additional
y per capita ($) ($) footprint per population In
person, 2008 2050
UK 46,000 80,000 5.3 5 million

USA 46,000 90,000 9.4 120 million

Russia 9,000 78,000 3.7 -30 million

Brazil 7,000 50,000 2.4 130 million
China 2,500 50,000 2.1 150 million
India 1,000 21,000 0.9 500 million
SOURCE: Goldman Sachs (2007)

China and its FDI in Africa

China’s search for oil and mineral resources has focussed on Africa. Chinese companies are
investing heavily in oil exploration projects to help exploit and export raw materials.
 30% of oil used in China comes from Africa
 In 2007, Chinese investment in Africa totalled $30 billion.
 China has invested $8 billion building oil pipelines in Sudan.
 750,000 Chinese working in Africa, in 2008, for 900 Chinese companies.
 Oil revenues produced as a result of the exploitation of the reserves in Sudan, by
China, has helped fuel the war in Darfur.
 Propping up the Government of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe with arms shipments
 China’s top 10 trading partners total 10. 9 of these are oil producers!!
 China are being dicks not letting Africa get the profits they deserve

+ves of Chinese FDI -ves of Chinese FDI

  Chinese FDI has boosted Africa’s  Chinese factory-produced goods
economic growth undercut the price of local goods
 Africa has a new market for its raw  Many employees are Chinese
materials immigrants
 Chinese investment has also been in  Clashes between Chinese and
the infrastructure for new mines Africans in Zambia and Equatorial
and factories (roads and shit) New Guinea
 Accused of meddling in politics, for
instance the Darfur conflict in Sudan.
Maintaining Superpower Influence
Hard Methods of maintaining power
 Military
 Nuclear weapons
 Having bases in a multiple countries
 Military alliances such as NATO
 Use of force if negotiations crumble
 (USA definitely goes in hard)

In-Between
 Aid and trade agreements
 Embargos, favouring trade partners
 Trade blocs
 Aid to influence policy, keep allies happy
Economic sanction against countries

Soft Methods of Maintaining Power

 Culture – films, books, shit
 Media to project image
 Exporting culture in film and TV – Hollywood
 MacDonaldisation – Coca-Colanisation

Neo-Colonialism – “new” colonialism, where countries remain under control from

overseas – even though they are supposedly independent
 Ghana gained independence from British rule in 1957
 English is still the country’s official language
 The cocoa trade, the most lucrative market for Ghana, but is influenced by
commodity traders, overseas tariffs and the WTO (based in New York, USA. A
superpower, where prices are dictated on a futures market when selling to
suppliers)
 As Ghanaian cocoa prices are often too high, wealthy countries will look elsewhere,
leaving nations like Ghana at the mercy of many large TNCs.
 Cocoa is a very volatile market
Key Concepts and Theories
W.W. Rostow’s Modernisation Theory (1960) –
 Economic development is a linear, five step process.
 Countries “take-off” and develop, when “pre-conditions for take-off” are met.
 Industrialisation follows, creating jobs
 The USA firmly supported this idea in mid-1950s to stop the spread of communism in
South East Asia and India. South Korea rep this model I think

A.G. Frank’s Dependency Theory (1967)-

 North vs. South division
 The developed world oppresses the developing world, in order to exploit cheap
resources in LDCs
 Developed countries drain poorer countries of Human capital and Resources
 Aid, debt and trade patterns exacerbate the “dependency” by LDCs.

I. Wallerstein’s World System’s Theory (1974)-

 The world is divided into core, semi-periphery and periphery areas
 Semi-periphery nations are the equivalent of NICS (nice image on pg 110, green A2
book.)
  This is quite a hard one to explain so it’ll be best to simply name-drop this in the exam
and hope the examiner brer knows his shit. I really don’t get it.

Key Terms and other things in this topic

 Bi-Polar and Uni-Polar World – Used to be Bi-Polar when the USA and USSR went at it,
however, with the emergence of the BRIC nations, a Uni-Polar world is more likely by
the year 2030.
 Free Market Capitalism - "Free market" essentially means that producers are free to
enter a line of business and sell their products at whatever price they can charge;
meanwhile consumers are free to buy whatever products they want at whatever
price they are willing to accept.
 NATO - North America Treaty Organisation – 26 members – grew from 12 – Is an
intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was
signed on 4 April 1949. The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, and the
organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states
agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
 IMF + World Bank
 Hegemony
 Cultural Imperialism
 SAPs
 WTO