{UAH} Britain's nimble approach in Africa will help us escape the shadow of empire

Britain's nimble approach in Africa will help us escape the shadow of empire

• RORY STEWART

27 AUGUST 2017 • 10:00PM

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Afghanistan was just one of many chastening experiences for supporters of liberal democracy CREDIT:BEN BIRCHALL/PA WIRE

The past 20 years of international engagement have not been comfortable for the West. In the Nineties, many hoped that we were entering an era of unparalleled Western power and influence, in which our institutions and values would remake a globe of liberal democracies.

Since then we have faced Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Ukraine, the Sahel, South Sudan, and more. The Arab Spring was bewildering. Emerging states have embraced authoritarian systems. The West's relative economic power has declined far more rapidly than anyone anticipated (the US share of global GDP is approximately half what it was in 1960, China's share about 10 times larger); and Western institutions have struggled to adapt to economies and states a fraction of our own size.

The answer to all this cannot be isolation. Our world is far too deeply interwoven for that to be in our interests, or those of others.

But...

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

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"Even a small dog can piss on a tall building" Jim Hightower

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