What is Power and how does it apply to geography? According to P.J. Taylor (334) "Power is the ability to be successful in a conflict; this maybe overt through force or the threat of force; or covert through non decision-making or structural advantage". The term power will be used to discuss how the United States can be described as the most dominate hegemony of the past century. Power can also be defined or generalized into many characteristics that describe how a country functions geographically. Power is a major role in political influence. It affects the politics in foreign policy and many other foreign relations as well. Power can intimidate or provoke a country to act in a way they might not act. Power is a major asset that can bring a country to reach its potential. Power can also ruin a country. "Political institutions are the rules that regulate the exercise of power in societies and in the world. When power becomes institutionalized - that is, when rules for the use of power are widely accepted - the holders of power have authority. Without authority to justify it, the exercise of power becomes a test of the raw force that power holders are able to wield, in the face of widespre

This contrasted sharply with the Soviet Union, which had a centrally planned economy. Everyone shared in the profits and you had two classes of people. The rich (very few) and the poor. After the war, conflicts arose between the major powers as to how the spoils would be divided and what type of government they would have. A cold war developed between the United States and the Soviet Union. They both believed their form of government was best. A nuclear arms race began in both countries and continued until the mid 1980's when communist idealism fell and democracy prevailed. The US economy is the cornerstone of its power. For example the United States per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $25,850 is one of the highest in the industrialized world. The American citizens have a high quality of life, exceptional public health care and exceptional education levels. This compared to a much lower GDP in the Soviet Union with both poor public health and education opportunities. If we look at Modelski's model it will show how the United States is changing. Modelski believes that powerful states with go through stages birth/ introduction, growth/ expansion, exercised influence and finally old age where they are succeeded. In Modelski's words he describes his long cycles of global politics as "First there is the urge to make global order. Once the possibilities of a global order became known an innate will for power becomes expressed as an urge to shape world-order. Only a few people may have such a world outlook, but they respond to the inarticulate needs of the many. Second, the nature of international politics as a system means that structures run down and have to be

reconstructed. All systems suffer a loss of order and survive by cyclical development." Countries that have risen to power usually only last about a century. The countries that have dominated over the past 5 hundred years as described in the text are Portugal, The Netherlands and Britain. Britain was an exception to Modelski's model because this states was able to gain power and influence the world for over 2 centuries. When Britain finally reached its stage of decline it was succeeded by a country from the New World. The World Wars made the transition of power from Britain to the United States easy. This was because Britain and many of the former super powers of the world had become temporarily cripple. The damage they had sustained from the war was only one of the many problems. The states also suffered resource depletion and the overwhelming expenditure that was used to purchase the materials needed to sustain their armies. The United States did build industry and was not devastated by bombs, as were many of the European Countries. This is how the United States became a super power. This is the time when the rest of the world recognized that the United States and this New World had the ability to control the world's affairs. The United States was now the most powerful nation in the world and could control worldwide political and economic activity. The United States grew in industry and power as it was propelled through industry, mass production, robotics, mechanization and now computerization. In today's news we are able to find recent events that show the political, economic and a combination of the two as the US influences other nations with its "Power". Article I (political)

ad resistance" (Goldstein). Power holders in the political sphere almost always want their use of power to be viewed as legitimate which means that they work to institutionalize their power they want to make it authoritative. This paper will discuss the typ

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Approximate Word count = 2448
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)