#simon anholt

[strangeparticles]

The kinds of countries we prefer are good countries. We don't admire countries primarily because they're rich, because they're powerful, because they're successful, because they're modern, because they're technologically advanced. We primarily admire countries that are good. What do we mean by good? We mean countries that contribute to the world in which we live. Countries that actually make the world better, or safer, or richer, or fairer. Those are the countries we like. This is a discovery of significant importance. [...] In order to do well, you need to do good. If you want to sell more products, if you want to get more investment, if you want to become more competitive, then you need to start behaving. Because that's why people do respect you and do business with you. And therefore, the more you collaborate, the competitive you become.

Which country does the most good for the world? | TED talk by Simon Anholt (x) 

This is an excellent talk, and it actually gives an answer to the title question. The answer might surprise you. The website with the actual database is here (x). It has been updated since that talk (June 2014) and the up to date answer is less surprising. But still.

[eressea-nyarwe]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag33QJmknXM)

[swallowedtail]

003-admirable by Rob Mitchell Via Flickr: Quote by Simon Anholt

2/100

[obsessionsofanadman]

Projects like this one give me faith that people will become more vigilant about what their governments do. Not every 4 years, but each year. Each month. If only the mainstream media would grab projects like this and maintain them in the spotlight. 

Such a fantastic project: http://goodcountry.org/

[moebithinking]

This is kind of a long video (20 min) but, it’s very interesting. In it Simon Anholt talks about how important it for a country to have a positive international image. It just makes life easier. Then he talks about The Good Country Index where all countries are graded on how beneficial they are to the rest of the world. He has a special definition for the word “good”.

[inspiredjourneys]

Which Country Does The Most Good In The World?

Which Country Does The Most Good In The World?

Policy advisor Simon Anholt discusses his good country index and which country does the most good in the world.  It is certainly inspiring to know that there are countries in the world that have the imagination and courage to operate outside of their own needs in order to make an impact on the world.

Where good is the opposite of selfish, the questions are:

Do you want to live in a rich country?

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[insist-on-resisting]

There's one superpower left on the planet and that is the seven billion people, the seven billion of us who cause all these problems, the same seven billion, by the way, who will resolve them all. But how are those seven billion organized? They're still organized in 200 or so nation-states, and the nations have governments that make rules and cause us to behave in certain ways. And that's a pretty efficient system, but the problem is that the way that those laws are made and the way those governments think is absolutely wrong for the solution of global problems, because it all looks inwards. The politicians that we elect and the politicians we don't elect, on the whole, have minds that microscope. They don't have minds that telescope. They look in. They pretend, they behave, as if they believed that every country was an island that existed quite happily, independently of all the others on its own little planet in its own little solar system. This is the problem: countries competing against each other, countries fighting against each other.

Simon Anholt, “Which Country Does The Most Good For The World?”

[insist-on-resisting]

We don't admire countries primarily because they're rich, because they're powerful, because they're successful, because they're modern, because they're technologically advanced. We primarily admire countries that are good.What do we mean by good? We mean countries that seem to contribute something to the world in which we live, countries that actually make the world safer or better or richer or fairer. Those are the countries we like. This is a discovery of significant importance — you see where I'm going — because it squares the circle. I can now say, and often do, to any government, in order to do well, you need to do good. If you want to sell more products, if you want to get more investment, if you want to become more competitive, then you need to start behaving, because that's why people will respect you and do business with you, and therefore, the more you collaborate, the more competitive you become.

Simon Anholt, “Which Country Does The Most Good For The World?”