‘Knowledge is power’ was one of the pillars of the hierarchical world of the industrial society. Things have changed. Today ‘Influence is power’. Measurement of this influence is the challenge for GDI’s Global Thought Leader studies.
‘The last will be first’ proclaims the Gospel of Matthew. A glance at the world's most influential thinkers shows us that the Bible is right once again. Four religious thinkers are among the top six figures in the Thought Leader ranking.
Germans with international influence are at the top of the ranking for the German language area. By contrast, local heroes such as Diedrich Diederichsen fail to make it into the top spots.
The Spanish language area is highly connected thanks to its Spanish-speaking creatives, but social and scientific debates don’t make it beyond the country’s borders.
The so-called ‘Röstigraben’ German-French cultural divide in Switzerland is also visible on the internet, particularly at the top of the Swiss ranking list, where few French-speaking Swiss thinkers are visible.
The Arab Spring has laid bare deep divisions in the Arabic world, and the traces of this revolution are also visible in our rankings.
The internet is different inside China. That’s why we produced two separate rankings, which clearly demonstrate where China’s digital borders lie.
We analysed the Chinese language area for the first time in 2015. In this article we explain how we solved the problem of the relatively strong separation of the domestic Chinese Internet from the rest of the world.
