Unit 1: PSIR Case Studies + examples

Soft power

Soft power

China

• increasing economic influence

• OBOR

• Manufacturing

  • US relies heavily

US

• Inflation / recession in US affects other countries

• MNCs becoming more prevalent

  • Amazon → one of the largest MNCs in the world

  • Apple

  • McDonalds

South Korea

• Kpop diplomacy

Offensive realism

Russia

• putin trying to re-assert russian dominance in a post-soviet era

• willing to use military force

• annexation of Crimea

Defensive realism

China

• military modernisation program

• deters potential aggressors

Offensive liberalism

France

• military intervention in mali

• to promote democracy

Canada

• nato intervention in Libya 2011

• human rights

Liberalism

UN

• uses co-operation

• doesn’t usually resort to violence

• summits + conferences used for discussion

Conference of parties (COP)

Hard power

US

• intervention in Afghanistan in 2001

• War on terror

• Campaign to neutralise Taliban and Al Qaeda

Sanctions on Russia

• economic sanctions in Russia reaction to Russia-Ukraine conflict

Authoritarian Regimes

DPRK

• little to no contact with other t=states

• Trade mainly confined to China

• Little to no civil liberties

• Media censorship

• Large scale poverty

  • Human rights violations

Examples of Democracy

UK

• elected government

• little to no media censorship

• civil liberties

• rule of law

US

Portugal

Sweden

Switzerland

Canada

India

Pakistan

Flawed democracies

Singapore

• elected government

  • bias

• media censorship

• civil liberties

  • death penalty?

Non-legitimate states

Somaliland

• battling for independence from Somalia

• Not internationally recognised as own indpenedent states

Catalan

• trying to get independence from Spain

Taiwan

• not recognised by many countries

• eg. not the UN nor the US

• recognised by Saudi Arabia and Saint Vincent

NGOs

• Sea shepherd

  • advocacy for marine life

  • Partnered with Tanzania and Gambia for protective laws

• Red cross

• Amnesty

• Greenpeace

Terrorist organisations

Al Qaeda

• 9/11

• Islamic extremist group

ISIS

• Operates in Iraq and Syria

Economic power

Iran

• Sanctions placed on Iran by EU to force Iran to negotiate a deal to decrease nuclear weapons

China

• OBOR

• Dependence from US for manufacturing

Relational power

EU

• not as powerful as they assert to be

• Power we associate with EU gives it influence

Stateless nations

Kurdistan

• 8 Million refugees

• distinct cultural identity

• called world’s largest nation without own independent state

• Across Syria, Iraq, Turkey & Iran

Most powerful MNCs (ranked)

1. Apple → US → $21 trillion market capitalisation

2. Saudi Aramco → Saudi Arabia → $1.9 trillion

3. Microsoft → US → 1.8 Trillion

4. Amazon → US → 1.6 trillion

5. Alphabet → US → 1.4 trillion

protesting Political movements

Chilean protests

• protesting increase in cost of living and police brutality

• HS students evading metro fares

Arab Spring

• Uprising and protests in Middle East and North Africa in 2011

• Challenging authoritarianI regimes in Yemen and Egypt

Informal Forums

BRIC

• Brazil

• Russia

• India

• China

World Economic Forum

• discuss how to deal with world issues

• eg. climate change, health care, urban development

Strategic alliances

• USA and Isreal

  • strengthens US influence in Middle East

• China and African countries

• USA and Taiwan

• India and Afghanistan

• Russia and Iran

Countries in OBOR

• Rwanda

• Samoa

• Ethiopia

• Kenya

Territorial Disputes

South China Sea

• Brunei, PRC, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam

• All fighting for territory

Kashmir

• India and Pakistan

• both fighting over Kashmir

• threat of nuclear warfare

Economic / Trade disputes

Malaysia & EU

• 2014

• Anti dumping policies from Malaysian Steel

US and EU Boeing

• filed complaint with WTO

Collective security

UN

NATO

• Launched military operation in the middle East after 9/11 attacks

African Union

• Civil war in Somalia and Sudan

• African Peace and Security Architecture

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

Examples for how collective security leads to pooled capital and resources

piracy in Somalia

employment of naval forces

countries in the UN and African union

example for power in numbers for collective security

UN sanctions in North Korea

Heavily sanctioned

reduced nuclear weapons program

Russia sanctions

example for how collective security can be immobile

Mali peacekeeping mission from the UN

took several months to implement

example for how not all states may be willing to participate in collective security

invasion of Iraq led by US in 2003

France and Germany unwilling to participate