Complex Power Dynamics
When Starbucks and McDonald's withdrew from Russia, they strengthened economic sanctions by blending markets and norms to influence behaviour.
What is a smart power response?
This territory meets many Montevideo criteria but lacks widespread recognition, limiting UN membership.
What is Palestine?
This question asks you to explain how a political concept is shown in the source by linking a definition to specific evidence.
What is Question 2?
In early 2025, this East African country signed a new power-sharing framework after years of civil conflict, aiming to unify rival military and civilian factions.
What is Sudan?
This international court prosecutes individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
What is the International Criminal Court?
This type of power uses persuasion through values and culture but can also unintentionally reinforce inequalities.
What is soft power?
This state-like entity has embassies but is not sovereign under the Declarative Theory because it lacks independent control.
What is Hong Kong?
This question requires you to analyze two sources and show how their perspectives differ on a political issue.
What is Question 3?
After record-breaking global heat in 2024, this South American country declared a nationwide water emergency in 2025, with major cities rationing supplies.
What is Brazil?
This country became a major case study in relational power after leasing the Hambantota Port to China as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
What is Sri Lanka?
When one actor unintentionally shapes another actor’s options due to system structures, this kind of power is at work.
What is structural power?
Kosovo’s sovereignty is contested because not enough states provide this requirement under the Constitutive Theory.
What is diplomatic recognition?
This question requires you to identify a clear piece of evidence and correctly define a political concept used in the source.
What is Question 1?
In 2025, this country held an election that resulted in its first coalition government in more than a decade, reshaping politics across the European Union.
What is France?
This alliance has expanded eastward since the 1990s, contributing to debates over European security.
What is NATO?
This concept explains how an actor’s ability to achieve outcomes depends not on its resources alone but on its ability to influence another actor within a specific relationship.
What is relational power?
This state meets Montevideo criteria but lacks effective control over large regions, challenging its practical sovereignty.
What is Somalia? (acceptable alternatives: Yemen, DRC)
This question demands a short written response using a political concept, evidence, and your own case knowledge to answer a stimulus prompt.
What is Question 4?
This Asia-Pacific island territory held a high-stakes election in 2025, with debates focused on security, semiconductor supply chains, and relations with China.
What is Taiwan?
Mr Godfrey met Ms Godfrey in this country
What is Bahrain?
When a state loses the ability to prevent others from intervening inside its borders, it has lost this core feature of sovereignty.
What is external sovereignty?
Taiwan’s complex status highlights the tension between internal sovereignty and this great-power political force influencing recognition.
What is geopolitical pressure from China?
This question is the most challenging because it requires combining conceptual understanding, source analysis, and external examples to build a concise argument.
What is Question ?
In 2025, scientists confirmed that this polar ocean region began experiencing seasonally ice-free conditions for the first time in recorded history, accelerating geopolitical competition over shipping lanes and resources.
What is the Arctic Ocean?
Kashmir represents a long-standing dispute involving sovereignty, identity, and these two nuclear-armed states.
What are India and Pakistan?