Chapter 3: Grand Strategy 1: Introduction and Isolationism

Overview​
  • Grand Strategy provides a tool kit by which to evaluate foreign policies being implemented by the American Government
3.1 What is Grand Strategy?
  • Grand Strategy is the set of overarching ideas that guide the conduct of foreign policy, it identifies the set of interests the US should pursue, and the appropriate policy means
  • Inside Grand Strategy is a series of subsidizing ideas, theories, or assumptions about a nature of international order
  • Here are the Big Ideas of Grand Strategy:
    • Core Principals of International Political Order
    • Main Threats
    • Content of National Interests
    • Arguments about the best policy means to achieve those goals
  • Grand Strategy is at the top of the pyramid of American Policies that shape how the US interacts with governments around the world
    • Plays a coordinating role among these different dimensions of policy 
  • Grand Strategy is parallel as the international version of partisanship
  • There are very different standpoints for grand strategy, disputed Republicans want more military action in promoting democracy, known as "primacy"
  • Others believe that more military creates more problems, and that the US would be safer if it withdraws from some of its commitments
  • Partisanship is not a good predictor of Grand Strategy
    • Different Republican politicians may support different Grand Strategy positions
3.2: Components of Grand Strategy
  • Grand Strategies are best understood in relation to one another rather than absolute positions
  • Grand Strategies will vary in several different dimensions
    • Interests
      • Geographic Scope: regional or global
      • Content of overarching interests
    • Principal Threats facing the Untied States
      • Geographic Threats
      • Identity and Interests of Adversaries 
      • Interests and threats are often linked
    • Optimal Politician Instruments
      • Unilateralism vs. Multilateralism
        • Unilaterialism is only to follow US rules and policies not seeking cooperation with other nations
        • Multilateralism is when governments of different nations work together
      • Effectiveness of military force
  • 7 Types of Post Cold War Grand Strategy
    • Isolationism
    • Offshore Balancing
    • Selective Engagement
    • Restraint
    • Liberal Institutionalism 
    • Primacy
    • Liberal Hegemony
3.3 Discussion of Obama's West Point Speech
  • Elements of Grand Strategy within the Speech:
    • National Interests
      • Terrorism is the greatest threat facing the United States
    • Discussion of means
      • US cannot rely completely on military power, cannot always rely on military force as it will generate a backlash and create more enemies. Alternative Mechanism: International institutions
    • Identification of Treats
      • Terrorism is nested in the policy recommendations of Obama's administraion
      • There were a couple of mentions of China and Russia as growing powers
    • Critique of isolationism, as there are things around the world that will impact us no matter what
3.4 What is Isolationism?
  • Reduce US role in international politics and safeguard its security and national interests by keeping the outside world out at a distance
  • Most Constrained and narrow of all grand strategies, smallest role for the US
  • Goal is to reduce Foreign Interactions
    • Logic:
      • American threads abroad are minimal
      • Foreign Conflicts can inflict domestic politics
      • Foreign Intervention itself can create a threat
      • America 1st
    • Critique:
      • Isolationism allows problems to fester
3.5: Examples of Isolationism
  • George Washington's Farewell address 
    • Annoyed with French meddling in US affairs, they saught to put Republicans in power, US should then avoid foreign entanglement
  • Republican Administration in the 1920s
  • Much less isolationism after the Cold War
  • Donald Trump Presidency seems to garner support for growing reassurance of isolationism known as "neo-isolationism" and to pressure allies to spend more resources to support their own safeguarding 
3.6: Discussing Posen Reading
  • Posen argues that US has undergone bipartisan form  of Grand Strategy that fuses liberal institutionalism and primacy (Known as Liberal Hegemony)
    • Bush, Obama, and Clinton all saught Hegemonic positions
  • Posen argues that this has resulted in bad outcomes and even worse future consequences
  • Argues for a more restrained policy that emphasizes isolationism and selective engagement
  • Argues that can activist foreign policy since the end of the cold war has created 3 basic problems
    • Anti-American Balancing, in which rival states come together to contribute/challenge what they perceive as excessive American Power
    • Production of Unending/Unwinnable conflicts involving nationalism and identity
    • Anticipating some of the larger themes of Donald Trump, too tolerant of shirking by its allies an overly activist policy making other countries rely on US for security and getting a free ride of US policy
  • Posen argues that we should rebalance our foreign policy away from these commitments, and re-calibrate to a more restrained foreign policy
    • What would this look like [4 things]?
      • US should focus on preventing rise of powerful rivals, fighting terrorism, and preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons
      • If done, US should then reduce its alliance commitments
      • US should avoid counter insurgency campaigns, needs to be more selective in its approach to fight terrorism, efforts to reform society to not support terrorism is not the right approach
        • Use airstrikes, drones, and airstrikes
      • US should reduce size of military, resource demands would lock in this type of foreign policy