"We're two opposed tribes, globalists and localists? That's the most dangerous idea in the world." Simon Anholt on the Good Country Index
We’re very happy to be featuring an interview - short version above, long version here - with a great friend of A/UK from our very launch, the founder of the Good Country Index, Simon Anholt.
The Good Country Index (GCI) is an attempt at national measurement of performance which isn’t about internal indicators of national wealth and wellbeing. Instead, Simon wants to measure a country’s impact on the wellbeing of the international community - the actions each nation takes to progress and better the world.
As Simon is at pains to say in the video above, to be a “good” country in this way is also to directly benefit - in that a stabler, cleaner, more open, more reciprocal international system benefits all its participants.
The most recent 2020 iteration of the GCI found that Sweden was the “goodest” country in the world - meaning it contributes more good and less harm to the world outside its own borders than any other country. But click on the graphic below to dive into its depths (playing with the category toggles at the top is fun and informative).
Click here (or on image above) to access the index
We must also mention Simon’s book The Good Country Equation, which explains the thinking behind the GCI by means of his decades of consulting to national governments about their impact on the wider world. Click on this link to get 30% off the price!
As a guide to the video above, here are a few topic highlights (and their timing on the clip):
From start: the Good Country Index measures the external impact of a nation on the world
1.59 - Simon explains the idea of a dual mandate
4.32 - The opposite of a good country is not a bad country
5.47 - What was very unexpected about the GCI: Ireland and Kenya
8.32 - All countries should express their responsibility to the international community
12.31 - Here’s a six-stage method towards “good placeness”
15.03 - Why globalisation has been the best thing that’s ever happened - though it’s been so badly executed
16.31 - Globalists vs localists is the most dangerous idea in the world