India Ranks Fourth on Geopolitical Power Index

Bangalore: India has slipped to the fourth position in the second edition of the biannual Geopolitical Power Index. India has an aggregate score of 64, while United States topped the index (80 points on a maximum of 110), and China (72) placed second. Britain (65) moved up a spot to third place with France (63) retaining the fifth rank. GPI 2011 is compiled by author and media publisher Minhaz Merchant.

GPI 2011 is a copyrighted dynamic index created by Global Intelligence Review, an independent Mumbai-based think tank. The GPI analyzed parameters like - economy, development, military, governance, innovation, geography, population, culture, religion, history and diaspora. GPI 2011 measures both the ability and potential of the world’s ten most important countries, dubbed the G10 , to project hard and soft power globally.

The U.S. is still the world’s most influential nation as per the overall GPI 2011 (H2) ranking. Its surgical operations to eradicate top al-Qaeda terrorists including Osama bin Laden emphasize Washington’s ability to project hard power across geographies. India’s global influence however, the study concludes, has declined over the past six months on account of mis-governance and corruption. The country’s GPI 2011 (H2) rank has also dipped from GPI 2011 (H1) due to the government’s apprehensive foreign-policy leadership and ineffective counter-terrorism strategy.

Minhaz Merchant says “To create this first-of-its-kind index of geopolitical strength, countries were selected on the basis of their global economic, military and cultural influence. They were then ranked on a scale of 0-10 across eleven key criteria which constitute the ingredients of geopolitical power. Each criterion is based on five quantitative and qualitative sub-parameters with statistical weightages. These 55 sub-parameters and sub-indices with their specific weightages were analysed drawing upon a range of databases and our proprietorial methodology.”