Superpowers and Migration PDF

Superpowers and migration Learning Aims: to understand the role of migration on creating and maintaining superpowers  What prevents China from Global being a smart power?...

Superpowers and migration Learning Aims: to understand the role of migration on creating and maintaining superpowers  What prevents China from Global being a smart power? Lack of democracy superpowers Human rights abuses Limited global cultural influences The UK and other colonial powers of the C17th-C19th were ‘hard powers’ that installed direct rule. As a result their was a diffusion of European languages and culture across the ‘new world’. For example, the Spanish diaspora in America. In contrast the USA has dominated world affairs since 1945 and can be called a ‘smart power’. It has skilfully mixed the ‘hard powers’ of military action, economic sanctions and trade policies with the ‘soft powers’ of cultural influence, international decision making and ethical authority. China is now the world’s second largest economy, but lacks the soft powers to rival the USA. The EU is becoming increasingly important as a smart power whilst Russia is beginning to show evidence of a resurgence as a hard power in the Middle East. Regional superpowers Country Description Nigeria Major regional power because of the strength of the economy relative to neighbouring nations. Some cultural global reach via sports, e.g. World Cup S. Africa Emerging global power because of its population size, strength of its economy and MNCs such as Tata. Strong global reach of soft powers such as culture and music due to diaspora and Bollywood India Major regional power because of oil wealth. Lagos has become an economic hub and the film industry is beginning to exert a global influence via Nollywood. Russia Military superpower, with strong influences over Eastern Europe and Central Asia Qatar, a regional superpower Highest global GDP of $100000 due to oil and gas wealth Has 14% of all known gas reserves Doha has become a powerful place where international conferences and sporting events are held, including the 2012 UN Framework for Climate Change and 2022 World Cup. Qatar’s Al Jazeera media network has global importance and is an important soft power  The benefits of international migration for superpower states Benefit Description Exemplification Skilled labour shortage A shortage of people trained in a profession, such as medicine can be economically and socially damaging Unskilled labour 1 million Eastern European economic migrants have moved to the UK, with many filling a labour shortage in low skilled jobs within British agriculture and industry. An ageing population An ageing population can cause a significant economic burden on HICs. Migration can decrease the dependency ration and increase tax revenue and the labour force. Cultural imports African-American influenced hip-hop music has become mainstream in American culture and been exported around the globe Global hubs (a city with Oxford was named as the world’s leading an international educational institution in 2016 and has importance in a become a global hub for education attracting particular field) the best students and lecturers. Superpower out- Outward migration of citizens from global and regional superpowers can act migration as ambassadors for their country of origin increasing the soft powers of the source nations. Migration has played an important role in the development of superpowers to gain and maintain their status. Do you agree with this statement? Technology drives a nations economy Trade agreements, resource availability, forward and it is important to attract skilled international relations and military might labour are more important than migration. The USA benefited from German scientists in the 30s, 40s and 50s Japan could be used to exemplify. The UK benefited from mass migration of Irish economic migrants in the C19th helping to provide unskilled labour for large scale infrastructure projects More recently Qatar has benefited from cheap labour from the Indian sub-continent to fuel its mass construction programme Japan remains a non-multicultural nation with an ethnic minority of less than 2%. It remains the World’s 4th largest economy but will struggle to maintain this due to a labour shortage and the economic burden of an ageing population.