Geographic Power Essay, Research Paper
Geographic Power of Countries
Every country has geographic power, although some countries have more than others. Countries with more power often have a valuable supply of natural resources and human resources. The attitude of the people in the country and the problems that the country is faced with are also factors in determining its geographic power. Poor attitudes and many problems may, however, be altered when the human or natural resources are improved. Therefore, these resources are the most important factors in determining the geographical power of a country. These resources also can be used to determine the potential for greater geographic power. In a ranked list of geographic power a country with more resources will be placed higher than a country with fewer resources. Therefore, China has the most geographic power, followed by India, the United Kingdom, Brazil and finally Mexico, with the least geographic power.
Of all the countries listed above, China has the most geographic power and indeed the most potential for future geographic power. China’s total resources far surpass the number of resources that the other countries possess. China has eleven resources in total. This by itself may guarantee a country geographic power. However, human resources are often more important, as they are the products that result from the manufacturing of natural resources. Obviously, it is possible to obtain more money from manufactured resources than it is from raw materials in their natural state. China is more heavily weighted in the human resource column, as it has eight of its eleven possible resources in that area. There are also some resources that are more important than others. China has a great number of important resources such as steel ore, cotton lint, coal, iron ore, forestry and resources that can be used for food, such as fishing, cattle, rice, and wheat. China does have problems, such as a high population and a very high birth rate, but they are obviously able to overcome this problem with their work ethic. China has the right attitude towards hard work and also a large amount of resources. These two things seem to be paying off for this geographically powerful country.
India has the second most geographical power of the countries listed in the introduction. India doesn’t fall too far behind China, as its total number of resources are nine. The majority of India’s resources fall into the human resource category and this is beneficial as they can gain more money from these resources. Only two of India’s total resources fall into the natural resource category, but these two are iron ore and coal, which are extremely useful ones. Other resources, which fall on the human side, are important as well, such as fishing, forestry, cattle, cotton lint, rice and wheat. India is a country with strong religious overtones. This religion can benefit their geographic power as they can fall back on it to provide themselves with strength to continue working in a difficult situation. Problems may be easier to overcome due to this strong religious attitude, and this may benefit their power. This country has a lot of potential for the future as long as they keep working hard to develop their resources.
The third most powerful country is the United Kingdom. This country is not nearly as powerful as China or India because it is lacking in its total number of resources. It only has six. The United Kingdom has more human resources than it does natural resources. Human resources are definitely more lucrative than natural resources. Its four human resources are aluminum, steel, electric energy and motor vehicles. Of these resources four are very important ones. The United Kingdom’s attitude may be not as healthy as the ones of China or India and this may be why its geographic power has fallen in the past years. It’s potential for future power may depend on more than its resources, but also on its attitude. However, resources are definitely the most important factor and therefore the situation in the United Kingdom looks pretty promising.
Each country in the world has some geographic power, but the ranking of these countries depends greatly on its availability of resources. Brazil and Mexico are not as geographically powerful as China, India and the United Kingdom because they have fewer beneficial natural and human resources than the other countries. In fact, Brazil is tied with the United Kingdom for its total resources, but one of Brazil’s resources is its population, which can actually be detrimental. Potential for future geographic power may also slightly depend on the attitudes of the countries’ people or the problems that they are faced with. These are not as important factors, however, as natural and human resources.