"A Bizarre Model to Follow for Fostering Stability in Today’s World"

"While it is true that colonial policy was often formulated in London, it is equally true that Britain could become the greatest power on earth only by delegating power—either to Britons who served as imperial representatives or to local forces intent on doing the empire’s bidding. But Kwasi Kwarteng, in this fine book, argues that the empire granted far too much authority to the wrong people. 'Accidents and decisions made on a personal, almost whimsical, level have had a massive impact on international politics,' Kwarteng writes."

Isaac Chotiner in The New York Times reviews Kwasi Kwarteng's Ghosts of Empire: Britain’s Legacies in the Modern World.