Geopolitical and economic risks
Practice Flashcards
Flip to reveal answersTrack your progress — Sign up free to save your progress and get smart review reminders based on spaced repetition.
All 12 Flashcards — Geopolitical and economic risks
Sign up free to track progress and get spaced-repetition review schedules.
Question
Define geopolitical risk.
Answer
The threat that **conflict, sanctions, trade wars or unstable governments** will disrupt the flows of goods, energy, money and people between states.
Question
Define economic / financial contagion.
Answer
The way a **shock spreads** from one market or country to others through their financial links (a banking crisis, a currency crash, a default).
Question
What is supply-chain risk?
Answer
The danger that **production stops** because a long, just-in-time chain is broken at one weak point — a factory, a port or a single supplier.
Question
Define a chokepoint. Give an example.
Answer
A **narrow place** a huge share of global trade must pass through, so a blockage there disrupts the whole flow — e.g. the **Suez Canal** or the **Strait of Hormuz**.
Question
What is just-in-time (JIT)?
Answer
Making and delivering goods **only as needed**, holding almost no stock — cheap and efficient, but **fragile** if any link in the chain fails.
Question
Define cyber-security.
Answer
Protecting **computer networks, data and infrastructure** from attacks such as hacking, ransomware and data theft.
Question
What is systemic risk?
Answer
The risk that a **failure in one part** of a connected system brings down much of the rest, rather than staying contained.
Question
Name the four main risks global interactions create.
Answer
**Financial contagion**, **supply-chain disruption**, **cyber-attacks**, and **technological disruption** (automation/AI displacing jobs).
Question
Why does connection breed risk?
Answer
Every link is also a **route for shocks to travel** — efficiency is traded for **resilience**, so a local failure becomes a global one fast.
Question
Name two economic risks from new technologies.
Answer
**Automation and AI** displacing routine jobs, and **3D printing / digital retailing** hollowing out factories, high streets and the jobs and tax they supported.
Question
Why is new technology 'double-edged' for risk?
Answer
It **creates** risk (cyber-attacks, job loss) but the **same** technology helps **manage** risk (cybersecurity, biometric borders, GIS, drones).
Question
What judgement do examiners reward on the greatest risk?
Answer
No risk is greatest everywhere — it **depends on scale, timescale and place**; the greatest threat is the one a people or place is **least able to absorb** (resilience).
Read the notes
Full study notes for Geopolitical and economic risks
Topic 6.1 hub
Geopolitical and economic risks
More from Topic 6.1
All flashcards in this topic
Geography exam skills
Paper structures & tips
Track your progress with spaced repetition
Sign up free — Aimnova tells you exactly which cards to review and when, so you remember everything before your IB exam.
Start Free