Australia deserves a place in the G8, study finds, by Jacquelin Magnay.

Australia is one of the ten most powerful nations in the world and deserves a place in the G8, an audit of geopolitical capability has found.

The Henry Jackson Society in the UK says that Australia is even more politically powerful than Russia because it is a “hemispheric power’’ capable of projecting itself and defending its own interest within the southern hemisphere. The study has found that Russia, however, is only a regional power. …

The detailed study ranked Australia in eighth place across categories of capability, national base, its structure, instruments and resolve, ahead of both India and Russia.

Us?

The United States headed the rankings with the United Kingdom ahead of China, France and Germany. Japan was in sixth position followed by Canada and Australia.

James Rogers, the study’s chief analyst, said: … “Australia’s priority on cultural power — its ability to attract others to your cause, its narrative to shape and influence global discourse or ideas and ideology — ranks it fourth in the world,’’ Mr Rogers said.

The audit, which concentrated on the G20 nations, plus Nigeria, measured 33 indicators and 1240 pieces of data to assess a nation’s capability.

It is not a ranking of a country’s war fighting capacity, but rather looks at the geopolitical interactions and circumstances as countries jockey for influence.