Sphere of influence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Sphere of influence (disambiguation).
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is an area or region over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence.
In more extreme cases, a country within the "sphere of influence" of another more powerful country may become a subsidiary of that state and serve in effect as a satellite state or de facto colony. The system of spheres of influence by which powerful nations intervene in the affairs of others continues to the present day. It is often analyzed in terms of superpowers, great powers, and/or middle powers.
The term is also used to describe non-political situations, e.g. a shopping mall is said to have a sphere of influence which designates the geographical area where it dominates the retail trade.
For example, during the height of its existence in World War II, the Japanese Empire had quite a large sphere of influence. The Japanese government directly governed events in Korea, Manchuria, Vietnam, Taiwan, and parts of China. The "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" could thus be quite easily drawn on a map of the Pacific Ocean as a large "bubble" surrounding the islands of Japan and the Asian and Pacific nations it controlled.
