Superpowers - Culture, Demography & Resources

Geography: Edexcel A Level, topic 9.1.4

Superpowers - Cultural Influence

With globalisation increasingly leading to a global culture, cultural influence is a key characteristic of being a superpower in the 21st century.

For example, Disney promotes a global culture with American traits through its films and TV shows.
Film studios like MGM make films like 'The Hobbit' and 'Hot Tub Time Machine' spreading US culture globally.
Netflix is also spreading US culture internationally.
Global media TNCs influence global culture by deciding which films people watch.

For some countries, their demographics have helped them to achieve superpower status.

For some countries, their demographics have helped them to achieve superpower status.
China used its large population (1.4 billion) to become the ‘work shop of the world’. It was able to provide TNCs with low labour costs and use this to grow its manufacturing sector.
As China becomes a more wealthy power, its large population is now offering TNCs a large consumer market and so increasing economic growth further.
The USA is another example of a large population being potentially advantageous (326 million people in 2017).

However, there are plenty of examples where countries have risen to become superpowers or regional powers without a large population.
Singapore is an example of this. It is a regional power with major influence in South Asia yet it has a population of only 5.6 million. This suggests that demographics are not the only thing that matters.

Historically this has been an important element of superpower status because natural resources are essential to economic development.

For example, the UK’s supply of coal was key to kick-starting the industrial revolution.
However, simply having resources do not mean economic development.

The USA was very rich in Iron and Steel, which were very important in its development in the late 1800s.
John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil was so powerful from 1870-1911 that it had to be broken up.
Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company had a huge amount of power in the steel industry.

However, much of Africa has huge resource reserves but these have caused conflict and hindered development further.
Corruption can mean that the gains do not accrue to the country.
TNCs can manage many natural resource reserves and countries may not receive many benefits. In Nigeria, Shell and BP have developed many Nigerian oil fields.
Dutch disease can lead to currency appreciation because of the export of resources like oil. This can stop a nation exporting any other goods and services.

What is a key characteristic of being a superpower in the 21st century?
Singapore has great regional influence, but a population of only how many people?
Roughly what was China's population in 2016?
Which natural resources were the USA rich in?
Who was influential in US raw materials in the 1890s and 1900s?