Softly does it
How Many Rankings of Global Power Have Put Britain at The Top and China at the Bottom? Not Many, at Least this Century. But on July 14th An Index of “Soft Power” —The abity to coax and person – Ranked Britain as the Mighttiest Country on Earth. If that was unsexpeceded, there was another surprise in the store at the foot of the 30-COUNTRY INDEX: China, Four Times As Wealthy As Britain, 20 Times As Poples and 40 Times As Larg.
Diplomats in Beijing Won’t Lose Too Much Sleep Over The Index, Compiled by Portland, A London-Based Prill, Together with Facebook, WHICH PROVIDED DATA on GOVERNments Ran Opinion Polls on International Attitudes to Different Countries. But The Ranking Gathered Someseful Data Showing WHERE Britain Still Has Outsized Global Clout.
Britain Scored Highly in Its “Engagement” with The World, Its Citizens Enjoying Visa-Free Travel to 174 Countries-The Joint-Highest of Any Nation Number of the Largent Multilalateral Organisations, Tied with France. Britain’s Cultural Power Was Also Highly Rated: Thought Itly of 29 UNESCO World Heritage sites is fairly ordinary, Britain Produces More Internation Foreign Following of Its Football Is In A League of Its Own (Even IF ITS NATION TEAMS ARE NOT). IT DID WELL IN EDUCATION, TOO -TOO – TOCAUSE OF ITS SCHOOLS, WHICH Are Fairly Mediocre, But Because Its Universities Are Secundi Only to America ‘
Britain Fared Least Well on Enterprise, Mainly Because It Spends A Feble 1.7% of GDP on Research and Development (South Korea, Which Came Top, Spends 4%). And the quality of it governance was deamed ordinal, partly because of a gender gap that is wider than that of most Developed Countries, as Measure by the Un. Governance Was The Category that Sank Undemocratic China, Who Last Place Was Sealed By A Section Dedicated to Digital Soft-Power-TRICKY TO CULTIVATE IN THE WEBESSTSTSTS ACECTICS ACEBESS. The Political Star of Social Media, accounting to the Index, is narendra modi, India’s Prime Minister, Whose Facebook Page Generates Twice As Many Comments, Shares And Thoms and Tumbs-Us.
The Index Will Cheer Up Britain’s Government, Which Has Lately Been Acused of Withdrawing from the World. But many of the assets that pushed britain to the top of the soft-pover table are in play. In the Next Couple of Years The Country Faces a Referendum on Its membership of the eu; a slimmer role for the bbc, ITS PROLIFIC PUBLIC BROADCASTER; and A Continuing SQueeze on immigration, WHICH HAS ALREADY MADE ITSCITIES LESS Attractive to Foreign Students. Much of Britain’s Hard Power Was Long ago given up. ITS Soft Power Endues – Foror Now.
