The latest Soft Power survey lists the United Kingdom (Great Britain) as having soft power that exceeds that of the United States in 2012 and this claim has gotten all the media attention. But I was struck by another oddity in the report: the absence of China, Russia and India among the top twenty. The only Asian countries to make it to the top 20 are Japan (36) and South Korea #11) . Brazil, the only BRIC on the list at 18.
I am not sure who was surveyed or what questions they were asked but surely the soft power extended by both China and India exceeds that of Sweden (what besides the Nobel?), Denmark, Australia, Canada, Norway, Finland, Holland, Spain (do they even have a significant economy left?), Austria (hey Arnold is the USA and Felix Baumgartner does not give you world power!), Belgium and Turkey. I suppose the publishers would liked to have included Luxembourg, Andorra, Monaco, Greece, Lichtenstein, the Vatican and more in the top 20 but they just ran out of space.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
