Breaking Down Obama's Grand Strategy

June 23, 2014 Topic: The PresidencyGrand Strategy Region: United States

Breaking Down Obama's Grand Strategy

"The ongoing debate on American grand strategy will benefit from recognizing both the nature and the merits of the Obama grand strategy—as well as the challenges and dilemmas therein."

What remains to be seen is whether it also recognizes that there is a danger in pulling back too far. There is the danger of liquidating existing commitments too quickly, or of becoming so hesitant to use force that allies and adversaries perceive weakness rather than prudence. There is the danger that the consequences of nonintervention or insufficient intervention in a place like Syria might eventually become worse than the consequences of a more assertive policy. Above all, there is the broader danger that too much retrenchment or caution could undermine the stability of the post–Cold War system in which the United States has thrived and prospered.

There is, of course, no way of knowing in advance precisely where the crossover point is—where the dangers of underreach exceed the dangers of overreach. But such a point certainly does exist, and those charged with devising and implementing American grand strategy would do well to keep this in mind.

Conclusion

No grand strategy is perfect, and the very undertaking of grand strategy involves wrestling with the problems, challenges and tensions inherent to foreign policy. To its credit, the Obama administration has crafted a set of grand-strategic principles that give guidance to American policy, and that seem fairly reasonably, given Washington’s international position and the particular challenges of the current situation.

That grand strategy, however, is also rife with potent dilemmas, ranging from the political to the geopolitical. Considered individually, each of these dilemmas has the potential to be rather problematic; taken collectively, they raise real questions about how well a grand strategy that seems plausible enough in theory will ultimately fare in practice. How effective U.S. policy makers—in this administration and the next—will be in managing these issues and answering that question remains to be seen. What is certain is that the ongoing debate on American grand strategy will benefit from recognizing both the nature and the merits of the Obama grand strategy—as well as the challenges and dilemmas therein.

Hal Brands is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and History at Duke University. His most recent book is What Good is Grand Strategy? Power and Purpose in American Statecraft from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush, recently published by Cornell University Press.