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Superpower Geographies

Superpower Geographies. Dr. Alasdair Pinkerton Department of Geography Royal Holloway, University of London a.d.pinkerton@rhul.ac.uk. @rhulgeography. @alpinkerton. Question 1:. What is a superpower?. What is a superpower?.

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Superpower Geographies

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  1. Superpower Geographies Dr. Alasdair Pinkerton Department of Geography Royal Holloway, University of London a.d.pinkerton@rhul.ac.uk @rhulgeography @alpinkerton

  2. Question 1: What is a superpower?

  3. What is a superpower? • Country (or countries) with exceptional capacities especially military/industrial – nuclear weapon state • Global reach and projection of power • William Fox (1944) first used the term to refer to Allied powers at end of WWII

  4. Winston Churchill Prime Minister, UK Franklin D Roosevelt President, US Joseph Stalin Premier, USSR Yalta Conference: February 4-11 1945

  5. Question 2: Why might the term be useful?

  6. Why might the term be useful? Exposes some powerful fictions of international politics: • All states equal and international boundaries respected by other states • Sovereignty is absolute • Superpowers as hyper-modern, developed, and civilizing agents?

  7. Why might the term be useful? Helps us understand how/where global power is possessed and acquired… NON-STATE ACTORS NGOs, MNCs, Terrorist groups ISSUES Proliferation, disease, trade, resources, etc. BRIC Brazil, Russia, India, China

  8. Cold War and Two Superpowers

  9. Cold War and Two Superpowers Economic superpowers – trade and finance Military superpowers – nuclear weapon states Political superpowers – rival global ideologies Culture superpowers– public diplomacy and ‘soft power’ Rocky IV (1985)

  10. Military rivarly: NATO vs. the Warsaw Pact

  11. The US as a Soft Superpower

  12. Challenging superpowers • Non-Aligned Movement in 1950s and 1960s post-colonial states and ‘third way’ • Dissidents within the US and USSR • Resistance and defeat in Vietnam (US) and Afghanistan (USSR) and again….Iraq, Chechnya and Afghanistan Nehru (India) Nkrumah (Kenya) Nasser (Egypt) Sukarno (Indonesia) Tito (Yugoslavia)

  13. Superpowers have their limits • Bound up in networks of allies and supporters e.g. NATO and Warsaw Pact • Military-Industrial supremacy expensive to maintain • Rise and fall of superpowers – from Vietnam to Iraq (US) and from the USSR (1917-1991) to Russia (1991-present) • Other nuclear weapon states e.g. India, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea, China…

  14. 9/11: The Exposure of a Superpower

  15. Beyond the Cold War: Rising Powers? Brazil, China, India and Russia (BRIC) Is China the next superpower? US-China competing over resources, markets and strategic influence in Africa, Asia and Latin America Is the US a declining superpower?

  16. Beyond the Cold War: Rising Powers? Military expenditure (US$ Billions)

  17. China and the US in Africa Africa at the Boiling Point

  18. China and the Polar Regions • China has a research stations in Svalbard and in Antarctica • China conducts research around central Arctic Ocean • China believes Arctic will be a resource rich frontier

  19. China and the Polar Regions

  20. EU as Superpower EU as a Superpower?

  21. Alternative superpowers? • The Vatican as a religious superpower: • Tiny geographical enclave, but global community of believers (over 1.1 Billion followers) • Apple as a commercial superpower: • $76Bn in cash reserves. More money than the US government • Blackwater as a military superpower: • Blackwater (now Academi) named as world’s most powerful mercenary army

  22. Conclusions Superpowers matter, but they are embedded within relationships, networks and actors Rise of potential superpowers but can/will BRIC or EU show global leadership? Do we need a more nuanced understanding of “power” to help us hold MNCs to account

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