I'm starting to run a list in my head of soft power institutions that are having funding cut (in one way or another) at the very same time the Govt. has empanelled a group to look at how the UK's soft power might be repaired.
This week is the likely cuts to the BBC world service, which as we all know retains a reputation (now sadly partly diminished) for reliability & objectivity; which (well who'd have thought) fed into the UK's soft power.
More idiocy on soft power!
#China's #media influence in #Africa goes beyond infrastructure investments. A political science scholar reveals how Beijing is shaping perceptions by partnering with local outlets and training journalists. https://buff.ly/3QdzmmO #softpower
By Mitchell Gallagher, Wayne State University
In response, Judge Ali, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary #injunction saying that the #Trump admin could not freeze #ForeignAid spending that predates Trump’s inauguration, nor could it fire or suspend workers associated w/those spending projects.
The ruling reverses a decision that had thrown into turmoil programs that provide #shelter for millions of people & fight #hunger & #illness around the globe.
As the UK continues to try & find a place outside the EU, and fails to understand how it (we) have corrupted & downgraded our 'soft power', another clue to how other nations see us is the failure to recover a better ranking in international perceptions of state corruption.
The UK used to rank firmly in the top 10 & now languishes down at 20th place, perceptions that seemly still stem from the corruption of the Tories (and not just under Johnson).
#corruption #SoftPower
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/11/uk-fails-to-improve-on-record-low-ranking-in-global-table-of-corruption
However the dismemberment of USAID plays out (maybe some aspect will be absorbed into the State Dept?) & whatever one thinks of the conduct of the agency, the withdrawal from its activities will likely leave a vacuum that China will see to fill with its own development agency (colloquially ChinaAID).
He may not care, but if you wanted an example of how to dissipate 'soft power' quickly, this looks like a textbook case.
The idea that a group of the 'great & good' can help the UK engineer an improvement in its 'soft power' seems to me to misunderstand how soft power works.... you don't wield soft power, rather you (global) actions result in soft power when others regard your actions as influential or requiring their adjustment.... so the biggest damage done to the UK's soft power was likely Brexit & no amount of chatting & strategising is going to do much to reverse that!
Have not honestly enjoyed an album so much on first listen as #EzraFeinberg's #SoftPower. Groove laden psychedelia? New, new age? Whatever the label, it's pure joy. https://tidal.com/album/350327804?u
