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Just consider, all the little nations running for shelter here and there, one running to Russia and another to the United States. In that situation before anything else would happen, the world will have been polarised between the Soviet Union and the United States. It is against that negative polarisation we have been fighting for years. We want to have the opportunity to interpose between these two giants a moderating, modifying and mitigating diplomacy.

Aneurin Bevan#24

PeaceDiplomacyGeopoliticsSafety

About this quote

What does it mean?
Small nations are forced to align with superpowers, but diplomacy can mediate this.
In plain terms
Small countries get caught between big powers.
What can you take from it?
Use diplomacy to mediate superpower conflict.

Where it applies

  • international relations
  • policy

Putting it to work

  • foreign policy
  • conflict resolution

Questions to consider

  • Can small nations avoid polarization?

Another view

Mediation is not always accepted by powers.

More from Aneurin Bevan

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  2. I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.

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  3. The great Powers of the world today as they look at the armaments they have built up, find themselves hopelessly frustrated. If that be the case, what is the u…

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