Operational Change and American Grand Strategy in the Context of the China Challenge
Stokes, D; Waterman, K
Date: 15 March 2019
Journal
Chinese Journal Of International Politics
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Publisher DOI
Abstract
With fiscal pressures at home and China’s continued rise abroad, the United States shows no
signs of wanting to reverse its costly grand strategy of deep engagement. In the context of
America’s relative decline, we evaluate existing proposals to ease pressures on the United States.
We argue that the key aspects of American decline ...
With fiscal pressures at home and China’s continued rise abroad, the United States shows no
signs of wanting to reverse its costly grand strategy of deep engagement. In the context of
America’s relative decline, we evaluate existing proposals to ease pressures on the United States.
We argue that the key aspects of American decline are in fact often operational rather than
strategic in nature, consequently the undifferentiated fashion in which rise and decline is often
presented is neither useful in describing current changes nor in proposing how to address them.
Problems at the operational level do not necessarily demand higher-level strategic level
alterations. As such, while restructured forms of deep engagement will help alleviate resource
constraints in the medium to long term, their utility in addressing the operational changes
brought on by relative decline are less apparent. Given that resource constraints are therefore
not necessarily the primary concern, the major strategic elements of American deep engagement
are more durable than commonly supposed. America’s current strategic objectives are not
constrained by changes brought on by its relative material decline with respect to China, but by
changes in the operational environment.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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