Session Four
U.S. Grand Strategy in the postCold
War World
The Cases for Alternative Grand
Strategies:
Isolationism
Selective Engagement / Offshore
Balancing
23 March 2017
Objectives
•  Isolationism
– Benefits and costs
•  Selective Engagement/Offshore Balancing
– Benefits and costs
Isolationism
•  Interests
–  U.S. is Best Protected When It Ends Military Commitments to
Other Countries
–  Present Allies Are Strong Enough Can Take Care of Themselves
•  Threats
–  Few, if any, Threats. The U.S. Is Fundamentally Secure
–  No Concern over Credibility
•  Means
–  Military Strong Enough to Maintain Borders, Keep Nuclear
Weapons
–  Reduce Intelligence Community
–  Strong Economy
Isolationism
Benefits and Costs
•  Benefits
–  No Need to Confront China, Russia
–  Much Smaller Military and Intelligence Community, so
Smaller Government
–  Reduced Terrorist Threat
–  Greatly Reduced Concern over Proliferation
•  Costs
–  Greatly Reduced Influence
–  More Wars Likely
–  Replacement by New Dominant State (e.g. China)
Selective Engagement and
Offshore Balancing
•  Interests
–  U.S. is Best Protected When It Dominates Centers of Economic
Might (North America, Europe, Northeast Asia, not Middle East,
athough Selective Engagers debate the importance of the ME)
–  Should Stay Out of Less Developed Countries (e.g. Iraq)
•  Threats
–  The Rise of Peer Competitors like China
-- Still Concern about Great Powers like Russia
–  Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction
–  Concern Over Credibility Less Important
•  Means
–  Large Military,but much less than Primacy
–  Intelligence Community, much less than Primacy
–  Strong Economy
Selective Engagement and
Offshore Balancing
Benefits and Costs
•  Benefits
–  No Need to Confront China for Offshore Balancing,
Still Need to do so if Selective Engagement
–  Much Smaller Military and Intelligence Community, so
Smaller Government
–  Reduced Terrorist Threat
–  Greatly Reduced Concern over Proliferation
•  Costs
–  Greatly Reduced Influence
–  More Wars Likely
–  Replacement by New Dominant State (e.g. China)