THE GOOD COUNTRY

 

If you Google the term ‘nation branding’, it is described as applying corporate branding techniques to a country. This is precisely what every country does. Nations care about their image more than anything else. It is not just used to attract tourists. Countries also use catchy slogans to attract FDIs.

 

Simon Anholt, an independent policy advisor who helps countries develop strategies to strength economy and enrich political engagement with other countries gets requests every week from countries to discuss about branding campaigns. Nation branding is a million-dollar industry. Tourism branding is dominating nation branding efforts especially in countries like Australia where tourism generates a lot of revenue.

 

Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index was introduced by Anholt and Ipsos Mori wherein they collect data from millions of people and rank countries according to their brand value on the basis of tourism, exposure, governance, people, culture and heritage, investment and immigration. However, despite spending huge amounts on Nation branding, there is no such impact of it on the images of these countries.

Amidst all of this, when you think about it, you come to the realization that every country works for itself. Our world is facing innumerable challenges but what almost every country, every parsimonious government does is that it works on the problems in an inward way rather than an outward way. This also helps the countries to make money. Most of the nations do not contribute to the world whatsoever despite globalization. It’s concerning on so many levels!

 

However, there is one country that stands out. IRELAND. It is so intriguing to find out that a small island in the North Atlantic ocean with a population of merely 6 million individuals has contributed to the world more than any other country per head of population. All because of its enduring efforts. And we tend to admire countries that somehow contribute to us, to the mankind.

 

In ‘The Good country index’ by Simon Anholt, the first position is bagged by Ireland. Upon vetting, it was found that Ireland is the best country in the world, not morally, but in terms of its contributions.

 

At a time when Churchill was looking for a nearly indestructible armoured vehicle, Ireland came up with world’s first tank. Ireland has also given the world the first modern tractor created by Harry Ferguson. To top it all, world’s first submarine was also a gift of Ireland to the world. It was created by an Irish engineer John Philip Holland. It totally overwhelms me to think of Ireland’s contributions to the defence sector.

 

Colour photography also came up in Ireland for the first time. Apart from that, Ireland has substantially contributed to the world of literature, science and music. Infact, the contributions of Ireland towards literature is so enormous that ostensibly, Patrick O’Brian wished he was an Irish!

 

Two Irishmen are credited to be the founders of human rights movement- Sir Roger Casement, an Anglo-Irish man and Sean MacBride. They uncovered Belgium’s atrocities and brought it to the world’s attention. They also uncovered abuses of workers in Brazil.

 

Most of the US presidents are of Irish descent including Donald Trump, Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush etc. It is also the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote! Ireland also contributes a whopping amount of €9.5 million to WHO and will continue to do the same according to the country’s minister for foreign affairs and trade.

 

In terms of ranking in the GCI, Ireland comes 1^st in prosperity and equity, 4^th in world order, 7^th in culture, 9^th in Health and well being and 20^th in science and technology.

 

At the same time, it is concerning that out of the top 10 countries, 9 are Western European countries and are developed countries. Most of the countries in top 30 are rich countries. Here, the question arises, does a country need money in order to contribute to the world? Is it only possible for rich countries to be ‘good countries’? Certainly not. Kenya, an underdeveloped country comes in top 30 on the GCI. This is a ray of hope for countries across the world. This shows that you don’t need to be rich in order to make a global impact and help humankind.

 

Now, how can we make sure that our countries have an outward approach to everything happening in the world? How can we make sure that our country is also a ‘good country’? According to Anholt, the easiest way of ensuring this is by electing good leaders who understand the concept of ‘a good country’ instead of electing desultory and selfish leaders. As told by Simon Anholt, the panacea to this comes down to the governments we elect. To quote Anholt, "It is in our hands to make the governments realise the term ‘good’, not the opposite of ‘bad’ but the opposite of ‘selfish’."