Global interactions and global power practice questions.

Indices such as the KOF index measure globalisation across economic, social and political dimensions. Why does using several dimensions change the ranking of countries?

• A country can be deeply integrated in trade while remaining closed socially or politically
• Economic data are unavailable for most countries, so other measures substitute
• Political integration is always proportional to economic integration
• Social globalisation is the only dimension that can be measured reliably

Answer: A country can be deeply integrated in trade while remaining closed socially or politically

Trade and investment openness, personal contact and cultural flows, and membership of international organisations vary independently: a state can host global supply chains while restricting information and migration. A single-dimension index would hide exactly that.

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization are described as multi-governmental organisations with asymmetric influence. What produces that asymmetry?

• Voting weight and conditions attached to lending follow economic size
• Membership is restricted to a small number of high-income countries
• Their decisions carry no weight in the countries that receive lending
• Each member country holds exactly one vote in all three institutions

Answer: Voting weight and conditions attached to lending follow economic size

Weighted voting in the Fund and the Bank ties influence to financial contributions, and lending conditions shape the policies of borrowing states. In the WTO each member formally has one vote, but market size gives large economies far greater negotiating leverage, so all three are formally multilateral and materially unequal.

A student writes: 'China's Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013, is soft power, because it works through loans and construction contracts rather than through the armed forces.' The example is relevant, but one step of the reasoning is wrong. Which statement identifies that step?

• Non-military is not the same as soft: paying and lending are inducements, which are hard power.
• Soft power can only be exercised by cultural organisations, never by a national government.
• Loans between states belong to the social dimension, so no power is being exercised at all.
• An initiative that involves many states is by definition run by a multi-governmental organisation.

Answer: Non-military is not the same as soft: paying and lending are inducements, which are hard power.

Soft power works by attraction — culture, values and policies that others find legitimate — so it produces a change of preference. Money that buys a change of behaviour is an inducement and sits with coercion on the hard-power side, even though no soldier is involved.

The Security Council of the United Nations has fifteen members: five permanent members and ten elected for two-year terms. Which of its rules gives the five permanent members a form of power that no elected member holds?

• Their votes are weighted according to the size of their populations.
• Any one of them can block a substantive resolution by voting against it.
• They chair the Council continuously instead of by monthly rotation.
• They pay the largest assessed contributions to the organisation's budget.

Answer: Any one of them can block a substantive resolution by voting against it.

The veto is a rule about voting on non-procedural matters, not about money or chairing: any single negative vote by a permanent member blocks the resolution. The presidency rotates monthly among all fifteen members, and the regular budget is assessed on national income, so Japan and Germany pay more than three of the permanent members.

The composite index compiled by a Swiss institute that scores every country on its economic, social and political globalisation is the ___ Index (one word).

Answer: KOF

Globalisation is multidimensional, so a single ranking is only useful when its sub-indices are read separately: a state can be deeply integrated in trade while restricting the movement of people and information. Judging integration by trade openness alone would place small trading economies at the top and hide exactly that gap.

In one year a country records exports of goods and services worth US$ 180 billion, imports worth US$ 140 billion and a GDP of US$ 800 billion. Calculate its trade openness ratio, (exports + imports) / GDP (to the nearest whole number, in %). Answer: ___

Answer: 40

Trade openness = (180 + 140) / 800 x 100 = 320 / 800 x 100 = 40 %. The ratio adds the two flows rather than subtracting them, because it measures exposure to global markets, not surplus or deficit.