Superpowers | Edexcel A-Level Geography (9GE0)

Superpowers

267 questions
18 subtopics
Paper 2: the compulsory human topics
Paper 2 and Paper 3

Covers who holds power in the world and how they use it: what makes a superpower, how the pattern has changed, the emerging powers challenging it, the institutions through which influence is exercised, and the places where it is contested..

It covers what makes a superpower: economy, politics and military, cultural, demographic and resource characteristics, hard power, soft power and smart power, the Belt and Road Initiative, and power indexes, patterns of power change over time, emerging powers and how their strengths are assessed, world systems, dependency and modernisation theory, iGOs and how superpowers dominate them, tNCs, cultural influence and Westernisation, how superpowers and emerging nations act in global decisions, alliances, IGOs and geostrategy, the environmental cost of superpower demand, the rising middle class in emerging superpowers, contested resources and intellectual property, contested political spheres and open conflict, china's ties with the developing world, tensions in Asia and the Middle East and challenges to existing superpowers, and future power structures.

Sample questions from Superpowers

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

What makes a superpower: economy, politics and military

Why is control of financial institutions an economic characteristic of power?

Show the answer
Control of global financial institutions such as the IMF or World Bank allows states to influence lending conditions, economic policies, and development priorities of other nations.
Hard power, soft power and smart power

How do economic sanctions function as hard power?

Show the answer
Sanctions restrict trade, financial transactions, or access to resources, imposing economic costs to coerce target states into changing their behaviour.
Patterns of power change over time

What type of power structure characterised the period 1919-1939?

Show the answer
A multipolar world with multiple competing imperial powers
World systems, dependency and modernisation theory

How does World Systems Theory explain changing patterns of global power?

Show the answer
It shows how countries can move between core, semi-periphery, and periphery positions over time as their economic roles change
TNCs, cultural influence and Westernisation

Explain how TNCs maintain superpower wealth through their financial practices.

Show the answer
By repatriating profits to headquarters countries and using transfer pricing to minimise tax obligations.
Alliances, IGOs and geostrategy

Why do environmental alliances lead to greater interdependence between countries?

Show the answer
They require coordinated action on transboundary environmental issues and shared commitments to targets, meaning countries must work together to achieve common goals.
The rising middle class in emerging superpowers

How does rising demand for petrochemical products in emerging superpowers affect oil markets?

Show the answer
Increased consumption of plastics, synthetic materials, and chemical products derived from oil raises demand for crude oil as a feedstock, intensifying competition and price pressures.
Contested political spheres and open conflict

Which sea between China and Japan is a contested political sphere of influence?

Show the answer
The East China Sea.

The 18 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
What makes a superpower: economy, politics and military	Recall questions on economic size and trade share, Security Council membership and alliances, and defence spending and force projection.	17
Cultural, demographic and resource characteristics	Recall questions on language, media and universities, population and skills, and energy, minerals and land as sources of power.	12
Hard power, soft power and smart power	Recall questions on force, sanctions and conditional aid against culture, education and diplomacy, and on combining the two.	18
The Belt and Road Initiative, and power indexes	Recall questions on how infrastructure financing extends influence, the debt-trap criticism, and how power indexes are built.	11
Patterns of power change over time	Recall questions on unipolar, bipolar and multipolar structures, imperialism, neo-colonialism and hegemony.	22
Emerging powers and how their strengths are assessed	Brazil and the BRIC group, other emerging powers in the G20 such as Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey, their role in environmental governance, and the economic, political, military, cultural, demographic and environmental factors that are strengths or weaknesses for an emerging power's future role.	18
World systems, dependency and modernisation theory	Recall questions on core, semi-periphery and periphery, unequal exchange, and what each theory claims about development.	12
IGOs and how superpowers dominate them	Recall questions on the World Bank, IMF, WTO and World Economic Forum, and on why influence within them is uneven.	8
TNCs, cultural influence and Westernisation	Recall questions on how TNCs drive globalisation, patents and transfer pricing, and on cultural homogenisation.	19
How superpowers and emerging nations act in global decisions	How superpowers and emerging nations respond to humanitarian disasters, conflict and climate change, sanctions against military intervention, acting as global police as the USA has, and military and economic alliances such as NATO, ANZUS, the EU, USMCA and ASEAN.	13
Alliances, IGOs and geostrategy	How military, economic and environmental alliances such as NATO and the IPCC create interdependence, the UN Security Council, International Court of Justice, peacekeeping missions and climate change conferences as influences on geopolitical stability, and what geostrategy means for alliance members.	12
The environmental cost of superpower demand	Recall questions on what demand for food, fossil fuels and minerals does to land, water and air.	13
The rising middle class in emerging superpowers	How rising middle classes in emerging superpowers increase demand for rare earth elements through devices and renewable energy, oil through vehicles, industry and petrochemicals, grain through meat-rich diets, and water through homes, irrigation and industry, the future consequences for resources, habitats, pollution and emissions, and mapping impacts with proportional symbols.	19
Contested resources and intellectual property	Recall questions on disputes over physical resources including the Arctic, and on counterfeiting and patents.	16
Contested political spheres and open conflict	Recall questions on the South China Sea and East China Sea, and on what open conflict costs people and environments.	10
China's ties with the developing world	Recall questions on the benefits and costs of China-Africa links, debt dependency and neo-colonial criticism.	14
Tensions in Asia and the Middle East	Recall questions on the economic, political, cultural and environmental sources of tension in each region.	12
Challenges to existing superpowers, and future power structures	Recall questions on national debt, unemployment and the cost of maintaining military power, and on possible future power structures.	21

Superpowers is 267 of the 3,433 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.