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Culture and digital helps UK top soft power list
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 17 July 2015
The UK officially leads the world in ‘soft power’, and if you don’t know what that means, well I can only suggest you go straight back to school and do some learning. And once you’ve done that, could you come back and tell us what ‘soft power’ means? No, not really. Soft power is that concept developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University to describe “the ability to attract and co-opt, rather than coerce, use force or give money, as a means of persuasion”. Yeah, that’s it. Sorry. I bet your mind went straight to soft rock power ballads didn’t it? No, the UK doesn’t lead at them at all.
But we have lots of soft power, according to a new report that’s just been published by lobbying firm Portland, based on an investigation that the aforementioned Nye has dubbed “the clearest picture to date”. In fact the UK tops a list of 30 countries, directly ahead of Germany, the US, France and Canada.
Why am I telling you this? Well, says the Portland report: “The UK comes top of the table with an unmatched combination of strong assets across all categories of soft power. The UK does particularly well on culture, digital, and global engagement”. Hey, culture, digital, global, they’re basically talking about One Direction downloads right there.
Says Geoff Taylor, boss of record industry trade group BPI: “The UK draws much of its ‘soft power’ from its creative industries and in particular the dynamic performance of its music industry. The fact that five of the top ten best-selling albums in the world last year were by British artists highlights that music and culture are important not only for our economy and balance of trade, but in helping to promote a positive image of the UK around the world”.
Of course, that positive image has now been knocked for six by Liam 1D getting his stylist (well, a stylist) pregnant. Shocking. Though that scurrilous gossip isn’t the kind of chitter chatter we’d sully your CMU Daily with. So forget I mentioned it. For the good of the UK’s soft power status, if nothing else.
Read this quote from Portland’s Jonathan McClory instead: “The rise of networks and the digital revolution has transformed the global affairs landscape, with more actors, more platforms, and more interests vying for global influence. The ‘Soft Power 30’ enables us to understand how global power is evolving and shows how nations of every size and standing can harness their soft power assets for global influence”.
