British Foreign Policy— A Glance Backwards

Abstract

Perspective is all. A snapshot of Great Britain, taken at any time since the end of Hitler’s war, would reveal a prosperous, stable country of the first rank of powers. A great trading nation, with a modem industrial base, protected by its alliance with the most powerful nation on earth. Such an encouraging portrait is at variance with the popular analysis, beloved of pundit and politician, of a Britain in decline. This pessimistic view, which seems to be most in evidence in times of scandal in public life, is based upon the assertion that Britain has declined in power both relatively and absolutely, and that her weakness has coincided with a period in which the problems facing this country have increased both in size and number. This ‘moving picture’ of contemporary England reveals much of the truth, but not all of it.