It is widely believed that the UK is in a decline. Public services are terrible if not cut entirely and people are walking around in a constant state of dread and hopelessness. I think one fix for this (excluding the countless other more important things that should be prioritised) is improving the soft-power.
For the longest time, America has held the crown for their projection of soft-power. Films, television, music, games, are all mediums that the USA has dominated and used to promote their world views and values. Some of it is just a result of the unique economic and military standing they hold but I can’t help but believe that a lot of the rest is the government actively working to improve soft power because of how valuable it is on the global stage.
Another country that has actively worked on and successfully improved their soft power is South Korea. By fostering, promoting and packaging K-pop and K-drama to appeal to western and world audiences, they’ve boosted various industries and their economy as a whole greatly.
When I talk to extended family of mine in the East, they had nothing but praises to say of South Korea and America. A direct result of this is that educated youth overwhelmingly choose to move to this countries which helps contribute to their economic growth and development.
Furthermore, I’d argue that despite the absolutely crazy actions of the current US administration, their economy keeps bouncing back, and that’s almost entirely because of the trust and ‘hope’ that investors have in the US economy and the soft power it projects. And the same way they’re getting away with a lot of it because of soft power, they’re also eating through the soft power they’ve cultivated over the course of decades, which means the crown is ripe for the taking.
The UK could be doing so much better in this department. Some of the scepticism is warranted, the historic ties that a lot of places and people share with the UK isn’t the most positive to put it lightly. But that can be worked on through strategic efforts to promote ‘British values’ and ‘British Culture’ around the world. the UK has a massive advantage that it has an almost 100% English speaking population and that means anything produced here can completely forgo the need for translation or dubbing.
Also, one of the best examples of long standing promoters of British soft power would be the BBC, which I would argue is the most trusted news source on the planet! Now imagine replicating this trust and fame with a 100 other films and songs.
Now here’s some quick research to see if my ideas above are backed up by any amount of evidence.
Cambridge dictionary defines soft power as ‘the use of a country’s cultural and economic influence to persuade other countries to do something, rather than the use of military power:’
A quick search lead me to the British Council’s website which states that ‘New research by the Institute for International Cultural Relations at the University of Edinburgh has found that promoting a nation’s culture and political ideals on the global stage brings significant economic and strategic advantages… researchers have found that a state’s soft power has statistically significant impact on foreign direct investment (FDI), overseas student recruitment, tourism, and international influence in fora like the UN General Assembly.’
So yeah, British government, get on this!