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What countries have a positive/negative role in the world?

Interesting story linked on Fark today, discussing the results of a recent BBC survey into which countries are viewed worldwide as having a positive or negative influence on the world. Topping the poll is Iran, with the US coming in second place.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4674656.stm

Quote:

Iran 'has negative role in world'
Iranian President Ahmadinejad's nation fared worst in the survey
Iran is the country most widely viewed as having a negative influence in the world, with the US in second place, a new poll for the BBC suggests.

The survey for the BBC World Service asked how 39,435 people in 33 nations across the globe saw various countries.

Views of China, Russia and France have declined in comparison to a similar survey at the end of 2004.

Japan is most widely seen to have a positive influence. Europe has the most positive scores of all in the poll.

The survey by the international polling firm GlobeScan and the University of Maryland took place between October 2005 and January 2006.

According to the poll, no country had a majority with a positive view of Iran's role in the world, apart from the Iranians themselves.

On average, just 18% say Iran has a positive influence, while 47% believe the state's role is negative.

Europe and North America have the largest majorities expressing a negative view - with Germany, the US and Italy the most negative about Iran.

Iran is embroiled in a row with the US and European Union over Western fears it is attempting to build nuclear weapons.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is aimed solely at energy production.

Ups and downs

The US has lost ground in some key allied countries, the survey suggests.

In France, 65% had a negative view of the US, up from 54% in the 2004 poll. In Britain the numbers went from 50% to 57%.

Negative views of the US are also up by 20 points in China, eight points in Australia and nine points in Brazil.

Views of China have declined sharply over the last year, according to the poll.

Among the 20 countries polled both years, the number rating China positively has dropped from 13 to eight, while those rating it negatively have risen from three to seven.

But overall, China continues to have more backers than detractors.

Several European countries have developed more negative perceptions of Russia since 2004, the poll suggests.

However, 31 of the 33 states' populations gave Japan a positive rating.

None of the countries had a predominantly negative view of Europe.

The average is 53% positive and 15% negative, excluding the European states asked.

The margin of error in polling ranged from 2.5% to 4%

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3..._graph_203.gif

...in other news; 'Europe' is a country.

im a little perplexed at the 'europe' clasification myself... why didnt they just group regions.. asia, sth east asia, middle east, europe, latin america etc. would have made more sense

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSflim

...in other news; 'Europe' is a country.

Are we including Ireland in the UK category?

*runs like fuck* :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlishsguy

im a little perplexed at the 'europe' clasification myself... why didnt they just group regions.. asia, sth east asia, middle east, europe, latin america etc. would have made more sense

Unfortunately that grouping would not work for N. America, or if they tried it, they would greatly offend Canadians (who rightfully don't want to be tossed in with the US). Furthermore, if we were to group Asia together, then we'd have to deal with Japan (bottom of the list) versus China (middle of the list) and we'd end up with nothing better than an average.

Europe, especially with the European Union, is seen more and more as a cohesive political unit versus a split of many nations. Truthfully, if Europe had been split up, would there have been much difference in the perception of the individual countries? Doubtful.

I would imagine they were talking about the Eurpoean Union as a whole (though they did seperate out France and the UK).

I am surprised at how positively people see China.

In the end, this has little to do with reality and everything to do with how these nations market themselves.

If Europeans don't want to be grouped together, they shouldn't go about making unions and international governments and such.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suave

If Europeans don't want to be grouped together, they shouldn't go about making unions and international governments and such.

HA! Good point.

Looking at Canadian responses...Iran is the only country that received a lower rating than the US. Unfortunately, there's no chart showing countries' opinions of Canada, so I couldn't look at the US's opinion of Canada.

Also interesting - Mexico has a much more positive view of Iran than they do of the US. And one final interesting stat to me: Iran holds India in extremely high regard, and China in very high regard also.

On a final note, Charlatan I'm not sure it's fair to say these are completely conjecture based on a country's marketing of itself. I imagine many people who participated in the survey considered (legitimately) how a particular country interacts with their own country, when trying to assess that country's influence on the world. It's reasonable to assume that these participants may have a very good idea of the relationship between their own country and certain other countries. Also - there are certain things that influence one's opinion that are completely independent of marketing. The Iranian presidents remarks about the right of Israel's existance are a stark example.

Poloboy... I agree that there are a few people who will take a more reasoned and rational approach to how they view these nation's influnce on the world. That said, I believe that most don't have a complex view of things. Many, when they think of the US, for example, think largely of what they see in film and television (whether that is a fictional film or a speech by Bush), others (in other countries) see the US as an agressive invading force.

When I say marketing I am referring more to the former than the latter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlatan

I think the aggressiveness has a huge factor in these polls. Having a horribly uncharismatic leader who gives off the impression of incompetence certainly doesn't help either, but I imagine the polls would look much nicer without all of the invasions and fighting in which the US has been involved.

Yeah, I think you're right that it does play a significant factor for the US, at least. I think they're the most likely to have a misrepresentation due to responses based on marketing, rather than a more considered opinion, given the number of Hollywood movies that portray the country in a manner that tends to boost local bos office sales, but may not be so appealing to foreign viewers.

China's bolstered by their favorable ratings in Asia and Africa, where there isn't always the same dedication to human rights usually found in Europe and N. America.

And as an aside, we didn't forget about Poland, and apparently based on those ratings they ddin't forget about us.

edit-upon closer review, the US didn't do much worse in those areas than China (and was much better in some Asian countries). As was said above, it's all about good p.r. And recently, China has been laying pretty low on the offending everyone front, whereas the US has been front and center.