article_snippet: (CNN)Whoever wins the general election on May 7 will face international challenges reaching to the heart of a question that has bedevilled every London government since 1945: what is, or should be, Britain's role in the world?
article_snippet: As one of World War II's victor countries, Britain helped shape the post-war international architecture.
article_snippet: Notably, Britain gained a permanent seat, plus veto power, in the U.N. Security Council, which Britain retains to this day.
article_snippet: Conscious of the United States decline, London clung, slightly pathetically, to what the United States termed the United States "special relationship" with Washington.
article_snippet: Looking at the EU, his saw one dominant, friendly power -- and the EU capital was Berlin, not London.
article_snippet: U.S. greatly values Britain as an informal, surrogate voice within EU.
article_snippet: But Washington's interests aside, EU EU is Britain's biggest trading partner and a natural ally in terms of democratic values, and legal, social and cultural norms.
article_snippet: London allowed Germany and France to take the lead on Ukraine diplomacy.
highlights_snippet: What is, or should be, Britain's role in the world?
  