Sharing power?
Subtitle: prospects for a U.S. concert-balance strategy
By: Patrick Porter
Contributors: Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute; Army War College (U.S.). Press
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Carlisle, PA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 82
ISBN-13: 9781584875666
Subjects: Foreign relations; Balance of power; Hegemony; International relations; Strategy
Other titles: Prospects for a US concert-balance strategy; Prospects for a United States concert-balance strategy
Description: The subject of U.S. grand strategy has been getting increasing attention from the policy and academic communities. However, too often the debate suffers from being too reductionist, limiting America's choices to worldwide hegemony or narrow isolation. There is a wide spectrum of choices before Washington that lie "somewhere in the middle." Frequently, not enough thought is given to how such alternative strategies should be designed and implemented. The future cannot be known, and earlier predictions of American decline have proven to be premature. However, there is a shift in wealth and power to the extent that America may not be able to hold on to its position as an unrivaled unipolar superpower. Therefore, it is worth thinking about how the United States could shape and adjust to the changing landscape around it. What is more, there are a number of interlocking factors that mean such a shift would make sense: transnational problems needing collaborative efforts, the military advantages of defenders, the reluctance of states to engage in unbridled competition, and "hegemony fatigue" among the American people. Alternative strategies that are smaller than global hegemony, but bigger than narrow isolationism, would be defined by the logic of "concerts" and "balancing," in other words, some mixture of collaboration and competition. Can the United States adjust to a concert-balance grand strategy that made space for other rising powers without sacrificing too much of its forward military presence, without unleashing too much regional instability, and without losing the domestic political will? It is not certain that a cumulative shift to a new grand strategy would necessarily succeed, since other powers might turn down the chance to cooperate. But with soaring budget deficits and national debt, increasing burdens on social security, and possible agonizing choices in the future between guns and butter, it is surely worth a try.
Notes: "April 2013."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 68-82).

Also available online in PDF format from Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) web site.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Part I : the state of strategy; title: Part II : no free lunches : dilemmas, trade-offs, and opportunities; title: Part III : making it work; title: Conclusion.