Europe can learn from Britain, an exemplar of 20th-century decline. As its empire crumbled, Britain faced a choice between strategic subordination to the United States or a more autonomous, social-democratic path. It chose the former, sacrificing independence for a “special relationship.”
Europe need not follow Britain’s path. No longer in the driver’s seat of history, it can shed its delusions of grandeur. On geopolitics and climate, it can still meet its goals without being the star player. The aim should be what British soccer fans call midtable stability, rather than league leadership.
This will be a bitter pill, particularly for Europe’s elites. Yet decline need not mean collapse or fortification. Cut down to size, Europe may find that a modest, well-tended place in the new global order is more than enough.
Europe can learn from Britain, an exemplar of 20th-century decline. As its empire crumbled, Britain faced a choice between strategic subordination to the United States or a more autonomous, social-democratic path. It chose the former, sacrificing independence for a “special relationship.”
Europe need not follow Britain’s path. No longer in the driver’s seat of history, it can shed its delusions of grandeur. On geopolitics and climate, it can still meet its goals without being the star player. The aim should be what British soccer fans call midtable stability, rather than league leadership.
This will be a bitter pill, particularly for Europe’s elites. Yet decline need not mean collapse or fortification. Cut down to size, Europe may find that a modest, well-tended place in the new global order is more than enough.
Europe can learn from Britain, an exemplar of 20th-century decline. As its empire crumbled, Britain faced a choice between strategic subordination to the United States or a more autonomous, social-democratic path. It chose the former, sacrificing independence for a “special relationship.”
Europe need not follow Britain’s path. No longer in the driver’s seat of history, it can shed its delusions of grandeur. On geopolitics and climate, it can still meet its goals without being the star player. The aim should be what British soccer fans call midtable stability, rather than league leadership.
This will be a bitter pill, particularly for Europe’s elites. Yet decline need not mean collapse or fortification. Cut down to size, Europe may find that a modest, well-tended place in the new global order is more than enough.