The great power hangover

In: The world today, Band 68, Heft 7, S. 6

Abstract

It is the quote that has launched a thousand articles. Dean Acheson's remark that Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role was made fifty years ago, in 1962. Ever since, it has been held up as a uniquely pithy summary of the Great British foreign policy dilemma. If, as seems likely, the UK is about to enter another agonised debate about its relationship with the European Union, the Acheson quote is bound to be rolled out yet again. Adapted from the source document.