Two dates are pencilled in my diary next year. On 24th February Moldova is holding parliamentary elections and on 31st March there is a presidential election in Ukraine.
I have applied to join both Election Observation Missions as a Short Term Observer. You might think these EOMs are a free holiday but you would be wrong. However, although STOs are unpaid, missions cost money that comes from the taxpayer via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The taxpayer also funds a large number of parliamentary observation groups that do not deliver such good value. The FCO has to watch the pennies and there has been a reduction in funding for EOMs leading to a reduction in the UK’s participation. Looking back, UK participants have been held in high esteem and are valued for their maturity (that’s me) and experience. It is an excellent example of Soft Power, an area in which the UK excels and at this juncture is especially important. This is not the moment to pull up the drawbridge.
The British Council, which has every reason to emphasise the importance of Soft Power, puts it this way.
… it is often the case that soft power is generated at the micro-level, through the interactions of individuals and small groups, and the networks they form. It is usually far more modest than the extravaganza that is the World Cup. To a degree soft power simply happens, it is often an additional, unexpected, and entirely unsought by-product of everyday activities and interactions, wholly removed from the ambit of the state. Many individuals, groups and organisations just going about their normal business are generating soft power, entirely unaware that they are ‘doing their bit’ for their country’s reserves of influence. All this makes a state’s soft power incredibly difficult to quantify in a meaningful way.
Nevertheless, Portland compile a Soft Power 30 index and here’s the 2018 league table. 1. United Kingdom 2. France 3. Germany 4. United States 5. Japan 6. Canada 7. Switzerland 8. Sweden 9. Netherlands 10. Australia 11. Denmark 12. Italy 13. Norway 14. Spain 15. Finland 16. Belgium 17. Austria 18. New Zealand 19. Ireland 20. South Korea 21. Singapore 22. Portugal 23. Greece 24. Poland 25. Hungary 26. Czech Republic 27. China 28. Russian Federation 29. Brazil 30. Argentina.
Can you see a pattern? Democracies are better at projecting soft power. There is not a single country from the former Soviet Union (except Russia itself) which is why Moldova and Ukraine need a helping hand and I’m hoping to ink in those dates.