A-Level Geography: Superpowers

'Superpowers' is a topic of the Pearson Edexcel A level Geography specification (Topic 7), and its ideas about global power also support work on globalisation and global governance in other specifications. This material trains the concepts and theories used to analyse how power is gained, kept and contested.

It begins with the sources of power. Edexcel lists economic, political, military, cultural and demographic characteristics and access to natural resources, and power is exercised along a spectrum from hard power, military force and economic sanctions, to soft power, the attraction of a country's culture, education and values. An invented country with a small army but global cultural reach shows how soft power works.

The second set looks at patterns of power over time: the direct, militarised control of the imperial era, the bipolar world of the Cold War, the idea of a multipolar world, and neo-colonialism, where influence is exercised indirectly through economic and political ties rather than occupation. You then apply development theories: Rostow's modernisation theory of linear stages of growth, dependency theory and its difficulty in explaining the rapid growth of some Asian economies, and Wallerstein's world systems theory with its core, periphery and semi-periphery, where rapidly industrialising emerging economies are often placed.

The third set covers the institutions through which power operates: the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and their veto, the World Trade Organization's role in reducing trade barriers and settling disputes, and military and economic alliances.

The final questions deal with contested spheres of influence, such as competing claims in the South China Sea and over Arctic resources, and with China's Belt and Road Initiative, which uses loans and infrastructure investment to build economic and political ties.

The material offers a quiz with explanations, flashcards for the key terms and theories, a printable written sheet of explanations and evaluations, and an oral exam in which an examiner asks one question at a time and gives brief feedback at the end.

• Identify the characteristics of superpowers and emerging powers
• Distinguish hard, soft and smart power
• Describe unipolar, bipolar and multipolar patterns of power and the shift from colonial to neo-colonial control
• Apply modernisation, dependency and world systems theories
• Explain the role of IGOs and alliances in maintaining power
• Analyse contested spheres of influence and the Belt and Road Initiative

Practice material written by Zestly, based on Pearson Edexcel A level Geography 9GE0 (Issue 6, December 2024), Topic 7: Superpowers.