{"id":59363,"date":"2026-08-24T21:18:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/radical-influence-after-empire-is-britain-still-a-great-power-professor-brendan-simms\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:18:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:18:55","slug":"radical-influence-after-empire-is-britain-still-a-great-power-professor-brendan-simms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/radical-influence-after-empire-is-britain-still-a-great-power-professor-brendan-simms\/","title":{"rendered":"Radical &#8211; Influence After Empire: Is Britain Still a Great Power? (Professor Brendan Simms)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"sw-text-body-copy sw-pt-4 sw-text-secondary\">Available for over a year<\/p>\n<p class=\"sw-text-body-copy sw-whitespace-pre-line sw-pt-4 sw-text-secondary\">Is Great Britain really still great? Is it in decline, or has the UK underestimated its own status in the world?<\/p>\n<p>In his latest book The Return of the Great Powers, Brendan Smith, Professor of the History of International Relations at the University of Cambridge, challenges one of the most deeply rooted current assumptions in British public life and argues that the UK is still a significant player on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>While much of the national conversation focuses on economic stagnation, geopolitical uncertainty and the fading legacy of empire, Simms argues that the UK remains one of only four true Great Powers in the world today, alongside the United States, China and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing on a framework of resources, reach, reputation and resilience, he joins Radical to make the case that Britain retains many of the characteristics that define global power: a strong economy, worldwide diplomatic influence, significant military capabilities and an overseas presence that allows it to project influence far beyond its shores.<\/p>\n<p>Sophia Smith Galer hosts this week, and find out why Brendan Simms believes that great power politics has returned as the dominant force shaping international affairs. What does it mean to be a Great Power in the 21st century? Does Britain still belong at the top table? And how the growing rivalry between the US and China is reshaping the global order?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480\u202f<br \/>\n&#8211; Email: radical@bbc.co.uk\u202f \u202f<\/p>\n<p>Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Series Producer: Rufus Gray<br \/>\nProducers: Nathan Gower and Ivana Davidovic<br \/>\nDigital Producer: Joe Wilkinson<br \/>\nTechnical Producer: Jonny Baker<br \/>\nSenior News Editor: Sam Bonham<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/m0030cd6\" aria-label=\"Programme Website of Influence After Empire: Is Britain Still a Great Power? (Professor Brendan Simms)\" data-testid=\"programme-website-link\" class=\"sw-group sw-inline-flex sw-items-center sw-pt-4\"><span class=\"sw-text-primary sw-font-bold sw-transition sw-ease sw-transition-colors sw-duration-350 motion-reduce:sw-transition-none group-active:sw-text-accent group-active:sw-underline group-focus-visible:sw-text-accent group-focus-visible:sw-underline group-hover:sw-text-accent group-hover:sw-underline sw-text-brevier\">Programme Website<\/span><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16px\" height=\"16px\" viewbox=\"0 0 32 32\" class=\"sw-ease sw-transition motion-reduce:sw-transition-none sw-duration-350 sw-transition sw-ease sw-duration-350 motion-reduce:sw-transition-none sw-ml-2 sw-ml-1 sw-inline-block sw-fill-accent\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M21.9,16.9v11.5H3.7V10.2h11.1V7.6H1V31h23.6V16.9H21.9z M18,1v2.6h10.2l-0.5-1.1L11,19l1.9,1.9L29.6,4.3l-1.2-0.5V14H31V1 H18z\"\/><\/svg><\/a><button class=\"sw-group sw-text-pica sw-block sw-w-fit sw-pt-4\"><span class=\"sw-text-primary sw-font-bold sw-transition sw-ease sw-transition-colors sw-duration-350 motion-reduce:sw-transition-none group-active:sw-text-accent group-active:sw-underline group-focus-visible:sw-text-accent group-focus-visible:sw-underline group-hover:sw-text-accent group-hover:sw-underline sw-mr-0.5\">Show less<\/span><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"0.75rem\" height=\"0.75rem\" viewbox=\"0 0 32 32\" class=\"sw-ease sw-transition motion-reduce:sw-transition-none sw-duration-350 sw-ml-1 sw-mt-1 sw-inline-block sw-fill-accent\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M0 18L16 0l16 18z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/play\/m0030cd6?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Available for over a year Is Great Britain really still great? Is it in decline, or has the UK underestimated its own status in the world? In his latest book The Return of the Great Powers, Brendan Smith, Professor of the History of International Relations at the University of Cambridge, challenges one of the most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[1424,4512,3505,3791,6001,550,5850,8992,16451],"class_list":["post-59363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-brendan","tag-britain","tag-empire","tag-great","tag-influence","tag-power","tag-professor","tag-radical","tag-simms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59365,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59363\/revisions\/59365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}