Tracking Global Trends

ICR Research produced these two comparative studies on the current international state of play of policy and practice in soft power and cultural relations. The reports informed and helped shape debate on these topics in the UK Government, and they generated significant international interest.

The reports took an objective view of what countries were saying they did, and compared that to what they were actually doing, By comparing relatively large numbers of countries, they were able to present a uniquely comprehensive global overview of policy and practice, targeted at the needs of policymakers.

This objectivity moved the debate about soft power on from sterile arguments about who was ‘winning’ and who was ‘losing’ in a largely irrelevant ‘soft power index’ league table.

This mattered as the UK and the world passed through turbulent times, including the pandemic and two major foreign policy reviews in the UK. We have just now (March 2024) completed a third report: “Soft Power at a Turning Point”, (due to be published later this year) which looks at the policies and institutions of a similar range of 18 countries and the European Union at a turning point in geopolitics.

Our reports aim to track policy and practice in ways that can help governments and cultural institutes understand and navigate how power and influence through education and culture actually work in the 2020s. We are very pleased to be able to say that they have informed policy and debate, generated international interest, and helped the British Council in its strategic thinking.