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The UK was a naval empire that got to the industrial revolution earlier than most.

The high cost of labor and the abundance of coal deposits created an incentive for automation and that led to unprecedented technological innovation.

This brought an era of prosperity and also created a power asymmetry. But that power asymmetry did not make it into the 21st century.

The Suez canal crisis was officially the end of the UK as a world superpower.

The UK has strong partnerships, is a member of many important institutions like the G7, UN security council, NATO and others, but is not a world superpower anymore.

Economically it is in decline and politically is in crisis.




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