Revision guide notes
Superpowers
7.1
Superpower: a dominant nation/state with the ability to project its influence outside its borders.
(e.g. USA)
Hyperpower: an unchallenged superpower that is dominant in all aspects of power.
Global superpower: countries that have influence on a global scale.
Emerging superpower: Countries with a large/growing economic, military and political influence.
(e.g. BRIC)
Regional superpower: a country with continental influence rather than global influence. (e.g. South
Africa)
There are 5 main pillars of power:
Economic power (allowing for a powerful military, exploitation of natural resources and
development of human resources through education), military power (use or threat of military
action and force to reach geopolitical goals), political power (power within international
organisations), cultural power (way of life, ideologies and values), resources (physical and human).
There are two main mechanisms for maintaining power:
Hard power (countries get their own way using force) and soft power (the power of persuasion).
Economic power is seen as sitting between these but the most powerful countries use smart power.
This is a combination of hard and soft power.
Hard power Economic power Soft power
Use or threat of military action, Economic/ development aid, Appealing ideologies and
forming alliances, use of signing trade agreements to values, cultural attractiveness.
economic sanctions. increase economic ties.
Superpower characteristics and mechanisms have changed over time. Mackinder (1904) identified
an area of Eurasia as a ‘heartland’. It was protected from invasion by the sea and stretched from
Russia to China and from the Himalayas to the Arctic. He argued it was a key geo-strategic location (a
location that commands access to and control over a large territory and its resources) because
controlling it commanded a large portion of the world’s resources.
7.2
There are different distributions of global power:
A unipolar world (dominated by one superpower e.g. the British Empire), a bipolar world (dominated
by two superpowers with opposing ideologies e.g. USA and USSR during the Cold War) and a
multipolar world (which is more complex and different emerging powers and superpowers compete
for power in different regions).
A high point of superpower polarity was the British Empire in the imperial phases. It ruled around
25% of the world and the Royal Navy dominated the oceans protecting colonies and trade routes.
After WW1, power became multi-polar. Emerging powers, like Japan, started to threaten the
traditional spheres of influence of regional and superpowers. Military power was of increasing
importance and an arms race took place in 1939 with countries strengthening their naval power.
Superpowers
7.1
Superpower: a dominant nation/state with the ability to project its influence outside its borders.
(e.g. USA)
Hyperpower: an unchallenged superpower that is dominant in all aspects of power.
Global superpower: countries that have influence on a global scale.
Emerging superpower: Countries with a large/growing economic, military and political influence.
(e.g. BRIC)
Regional superpower: a country with continental influence rather than global influence. (e.g. South
Africa)
There are 5 main pillars of power:
Economic power (allowing for a powerful military, exploitation of natural resources and
development of human resources through education), military power (use or threat of military
action and force to reach geopolitical goals), political power (power within international
organisations), cultural power (way of life, ideologies and values), resources (physical and human).
There are two main mechanisms for maintaining power:
Hard power (countries get their own way using force) and soft power (the power of persuasion).
Economic power is seen as sitting between these but the most powerful countries use smart power.
This is a combination of hard and soft power.
Hard power Economic power Soft power
Use or threat of military action, Economic/ development aid, Appealing ideologies and
forming alliances, use of signing trade agreements to values, cultural attractiveness.
economic sanctions. increase economic ties.
Superpower characteristics and mechanisms have changed over time. Mackinder (1904) identified
an area of Eurasia as a ‘heartland’. It was protected from invasion by the sea and stretched from
Russia to China and from the Himalayas to the Arctic. He argued it was a key geo-strategic location (a
location that commands access to and control over a large territory and its resources) because
controlling it commanded a large portion of the world’s resources.
7.2
There are different distributions of global power:
A unipolar world (dominated by one superpower e.g. the British Empire), a bipolar world (dominated
by two superpowers with opposing ideologies e.g. USA and USSR during the Cold War) and a
multipolar world (which is more complex and different emerging powers and superpowers compete
for power in different regions).
A high point of superpower polarity was the British Empire in the imperial phases. It ruled around
25% of the world and the Royal Navy dominated the oceans protecting colonies and trade routes.
After WW1, power became multi-polar. Emerging powers, like Japan, started to threaten the
traditional spheres of influence of regional and superpowers. Military power was of increasing
importance and an arms race took place in 1939 with countries strengthening their naval power.
