The idea. Model powers are countries whose influence comes not from size or dominance but from credibility: the match between what they say and what they do. In a fragmented, multipolar world where trust in traditional leadership has weakened, influence flows to those who can show that cooperation works in practice.
Model Power is not a category of countries but a discipline of leadership, built on five elements: mutual interest, aspiration, demonstration, learning and connection. Model powers do not claim to be model citizens; power is messy, and they know it. Modelling means trying out new ways to use power, with humility, and showing how much wiser, more grounded and more coherent a country is trying to be, not how much better it is than others.
Where it stands. GCI developed the concept, with support from the Gates Foundation, in Canada: Becoming a Model Power (2026), which drew on more than a decade of polling: support for cooperation rises when it is framed as mutual interest and visible results, and "win-win" framing raised approval by up to 9 points. Irish civil society has since adopted Model Power as the framework for a national campaign in support of ODA. We are now writing a general paper presenting Model Power as a concept for any country.