1. Global interactions and global power

Globalization Indices

Globalization is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture.Advances in transportation, such as the steam locomotive, steamship, jet engine, container ships, and in telecommunications infrastructure, including the rise of the telegraph and its modern offspring, the Internet, and mobile phones, have been major factors in globalization, generating further interdependence of economic and cultural activities.

Measuring GlobalisationKOF Index of Globalisation - Globalisation map

Superpowers: Definitions and Criteria

There is no clear cut or agreed definition of the term superpower . However, a superpower should be seen to have control over the following seven dimensions of state power; geography, population, economy, resources, military, diplomacy and national identity.

Two emerging potential superpowers: enter China and Turkey

Increasing economic, geopolitical and cultural influence

Introducing Mr. Xi Jinping President of China

Introducing Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey

Geography: Turkey occupies a vital crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Population: The world's 19th largest population. A fast growing and young population.
Economy: Turkey’s performance since 2000 has been impressive. Employment and incomes has increased making Turkey an upper-middle-income country. Poverty incidence halved over 2002–12, and extreme poverty fell even faster.
Resources: Main energy corridor for EU and Asia
Military: Turkey has the tenth strongest military in the world with the 9th most powerful army. Turkey has the second largest army in NATO, and is continuing ongoing high profile production of military equipment such as tanks, helicopters, missiles, ground defence systems, etc.
Diplomacy: Turkey is increasing its diplomatic influence from its central Eurasian location. A recent project includes leading Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan in January 2017, (sidelining the traditional roles of EU member states, the UN and the USA) In addition, US led coalition airstrikes against ISIS in Syria have been conducted from Turkish air bases giving Erdogan's government a strong negotiating position and has increased its role as a key NATO player.
National Identity: Erdoğan has distanced himself from Turkey's secular past and increasingly looks further back to the nation’s imperial Ottoman history and Islamist values for inspiration and expansion. Recent Turkish Ottoman TV dramas have now appeared on Netflix and have global audiences of over 20 million.

Introducing Mr. Xi Jinping, President of China

Geography: Modern China is a vast country. It is the world's fourth largest country.
Population: The world's largest population.
Economy: Since initiating market reforms in 1978, China has shifted from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy and has experienced rapid economic and social development. GDP growth has averaged nearly 10 percent a year—the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history—and has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty.
Resources: With such a huge population resource scarcity is a threat. China has an abundance of coal but thats about it. Water scarcity is emerging as a major concern exacerbated by growing demand.
Military: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the world's largest military force, with a strength of approximately 2,285,000 personnel, 0.18% of the country's population.China’s military is developing ships, submarines, aircraft, intelligence systems and foreign bases in a bid to become a global military power.
Diplomacy: China reached all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and made a major contribution to the achievement of the MDGs globally. A rising diplomatic power calling for calm in an increasingly tense region.
National Identity:

Limits to growth

Staying on top: The USA

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