UK’s Risky Obsession With US Decline

The United Kingdom understands full well how empires tend to over-reach and shrink, and British historians – notably Yale’s Paul Kennedy, Harvard’s Niall Ferguson and Stanford’s Ian Morris – suggest that such patterns are playing out for the United States, explains Gideon Rachman for the Financial Times. “British policy makers also seem to be operating on the assumption that the continuing rise of China and the relative decline of America are both inevitable,” he writes. “As a result, they are making decisions that reflect a cautious adaptation to this wind of change.” One point of evidence, he explains, is the UK defying Washington by applying to become a founding member of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank – a small hedge on shifting global power. Some in Britain may hope to serve as mentors of sorts for a rising China. Rachman points out that World War II was much more devastating for the UK than the Iraq War was for the US, and he concludes that the United States could hold its own by avoiding major conflicts and managing its finances well. – YaleGlobal

UK’s Risky Obsession With US Decline

Many British historians and policymakers see the rise of China and a US decline as inevitable, as evidenced by UK signing up for the AIIB
Gideon Rachman
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015.