BOP Consulting – Measuring the ‘Soft Power’ of Cultural Activity

BOP CONSULTING  (Culture & Creativity CONSULTANCY  Blog) - January 5th, 2012; An article on the blog of BOP Consulting, a culture and creativity consultancy, mentions the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in an analysis of the Cultural Diplomacy Outlook Report 2011. The Outlook is a compilation of the research undertaken by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy during the year 2011, and takes both a vertical approach by analyzing Cultural Diplomacy involvement through different sectors, such as public, private, and civil society, and a horizontal approach of how that involvement is carried out in different geographical regions and within various Cultural Diplomacy themes, such as Nation Branding, Inter-religious Dialogue, Sports, and the Arts. Learn more about ICD publications and research initiatives at www.cd-research.org

  January 05th, 2012

Measuring the ‘Soft Power’ of Cultural Activity

BOP Consulting (Culture & Creativity Consultancy Blog) – January 5th, 2012

In recent years a number of commentators have argued that the ‘soft power’ of a nation’s culture is as important as its military strength in assessing that country’s place in the world. Measuring such soft power is far from easy, though.

One BODY  which has tried to do so is the Berlin-based Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. Its Cultural Diplomacy Outlook Report 2011 is a wide-ranging study looking at many aspects of what it calls cultural diplomacy, in the public, private and third sectors.

One of the most interesting parts is its Index:

The cultural diplomacy index charts the increasing prevalence of soft power and public diplomacy as a means of international dialogue. The index evaluates various government activities to determine whether their respective cultural diplomacy programmes are substantial, constructive and effective.

The index produced by the ICD ranked forty countries by these means, and found that Germany and the Netherlands CAME  joint first, with Norway in third. The UK was fifth, the US was seventh, and India was the leading emerging economy, in tenth place.

— BOP CONSULTING