The Myth of Britain’s “Managed Decline”
02.15.2012 at 06:47am
Longtime SWJ friend, and Senior Editor of Bellum of The Stanford Review, Tristan Abbey argues that “American declinists are wrong to see the unraveling of the British Empire as a roadmap for a “soft landing” at Doublethink. “The British no more managed their decline than we designed our ascent.”
… The record shows that Britain’s decline was far from graceful, much less “managed.” The British were reactive, not far-sighted, and inconsistent rather than careful. Imperial descent, while preordained in certain respects, unfolded in fits and starts over the course of decades. If the British experience does indeed “hold some valuable lessons,” as Rachman and his colleagues suggest, it is as an example of what not to do.
