How Britain Broke the World

'Engrossing and frankly deeply troubling' - The Bookseller
'One of the most engaging and original analyses I've read of events of the last quarter century' - Shakespeare & Co, Paris


How Britain Broke the World is a compelling, eye opening account of how British foreign policy helped shape the turbulent world we're living in now. If you've wondered why the rules based international order feels weaker, why conflict keeps spreading, and why trust in Western leadership has eroded, this book connects the dots - from the Balkans to the Middle East, from London's financial districts to Brexit's aftershocks in Europe.

Snell isn't a distant commentator. He served as a British diplomat through the era of "ethical foreign policy," humanitarian intervention and the war on terror, including postings in places where the consequences were brutally real. He writes with an insider's understanding of the Foreign Office, Downing Street decision making, intelligence culture, and the national obsession with "punching above our weight" - and he shows what happens when ambition outruns strategy, expertise and accountability.

Across a fast moving narrative of modern history and geopolitics, you'll see how pivotal UK choices since the late 1990s contributed to a world of greater instability, rising authoritarianism and deepening great power rivalry. Snell explores how Britain repeatedly became the "marginal buyer" in international crises: not always the biggest actor, but the one that tipped the balance.

Inside you'll explore:

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  Kosovo and the birth of liberal interventionism: NATO's war in Europe, the humanitarian argument, and the long term cost of bypassing UN Security Council authority
  
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  Iraq, MI6, and the weapons of mass destruction fiasco: intelligence failures, the infamous dossier, and how a botched invasion helped fuel sectarian violence, regional chaos and the conditions that later fed ISIS/Islamic State
  
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  Afghanistan and the fantasy of "government in a box": counter terrorism, nation building, Helmand, and why exit strategies collapse when local realities are ignored
  
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  Libya and Syria: regime change, power vacuums, proxy warfare, and the ripple effects of prolonged conflict and refugee flows
  
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  Russia and the London laundromat: oligarchs, offshore tax havens, money laundering, corruption and the security consequences of letting dirty money shape politics
  
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  China and Britain's "golden era" error: trade, technology, strategic dependency, and tensions inside the Five Eyes intelligence alliance
  
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  Saudi Arabia, oil, arms sales and influence: the ethics-versus-interest dilemma, and what the Yemen war reveals about modern power politics
  
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  India and the politics of empire: colonial legacy, identity, and diplomacy in a multipolar world
  
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  The US-UK "special relationship" and Brexit: alliance management, multilateralism, the Northern Ireland problem, and what sovereignty slogans can cost in credibility and leverage
  

This is essential reading for fans of current affairs, political nonfiction, international relations and diplomatic history - especially readers interested in British politics, NATO, the UN, international law, security studies, intelligence agencies, Russia, China, the Middle East, Europe and the global fallout of intervention.

You'll come away with a sharper grasp of the forces driving global insecurity: how intervention and regime change can backfire, how intelligence can be politicised, how sanctions and offshore finance intersect, and how populism at home (from the Brexit referendum to culture war politic

"With insight that comes from years of front-line diplomacy, he shows that the UK has helped fracture the global order and undermined trust around the world... the directness of Snell's book is refreshing, and its indictments land harder because it is a view from the inside." - New Statesman

"In this engrossing and frankly deeply troubling book, former senior British diplomat Snell explains how Britain's often incompetent, inconsistent and sometimes downright greedy foreign policy has played a pivotal role in rendering the world a more dangerous place." - Editor's Choice, The Bookseller

"One of the most engaging, authentic and original analyses I've read of events of the last quarter century" - Shakespeare & Co

"Diplomats are masters of urbane double-talk, so it is refreshing to find a former Foreign Office mandarin issuing a trenchant indictment of Britain's deplorable geopolitical performance over the last twenty-five years." - Literary Review

"I cannot recommend this book highly enough" - Monocle podcast

"Buy this book" - John Sweeney, journalist Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller https://www.thebookseller.com/previews/how-britain-broke-the-world-foreign-misadventures-from-kosovo