Soft power has staying power.

Using identical variables and weights to those used for the RGMs, soft power was calculated for each of the G7 nations. The G7 nations were chosen specifically because they dominated global soft power during much of the post-World War II period.

Anecdotally, one would have expected the past six years to have taken their toll on US soft power. The US has been blamed for the recent global financial crisis, giving rise to discussions on the performance of Wall Street institutions, Washington politicians and regulators (not to mention the protracted conflict in Iraq over the sample period).

However, the data does not support this case.

The US scored 87 in 2010, a full 37 points ahead of second place France and an enormous 56 points over China. The US has gained a net three points in soft power since 2005, although it has lost a little ground since 2008. These results clearly indicate that the US remains totally dominant and undisputed worldwide in soft power.

The US and European figures also corroborate soft power’s durability. Once accumulated by a country, soft power has staying power.

For the US, Immigration and Universities (see Appendix III for a breakdown of the largest countries) provided the biggest boost to soft power, followed by Freedom, TIME 100, Most admired companies, Rule of law and Tourism. The only component to slip in recent years has been rule of law.

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