{"id":105574,"date":"2016-09-05T09:49:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T17:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=105574"},"modified":"2016-09-05T09:51:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T17:51:13","slug":"the-case-for-offshore-balancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=105574","title":{"rendered":"The Case For Offshore Balancing"},"content":{"rendered":"

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt writes in Foreign Affairs<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For the first time in recent memory, large numbers of Americans
\nare openly questioning their country\u2019s grand strategy. An April
\n2016 Pew poll found that 57 percent of Americans agree that
\nthe United States should \u201cdeal with its own problems and let others
\ndeal with theirs the best they can.\u201d On the campaign trail, both the
\nDemocrat Bernie Sanders and the Republican Donald Trump found
\nreceptive audiences whenever they questioned the United States\u2019
\npenchant for promoting democracy, subsidizing allies\u2019 defense, and
\nintervening militarily\u2014leaving only the likely Democratic nominee
\nHillary Clinton to defend the status quo.<\/p>\n

Americans\u2019 distaste for the prevailing grand strategy should come
\nas no surprise, given its abysmal record over the past quarter century.
\nIn Asia, India, Pakistan, and North Korea are expanding their nuclear
\narsenals, and China is challenging the status quo in regional waters. <\/p>\n

In Europe, Russia has annexed Crimea, and U.S. relations with Moscow
\nhave sunk to new lows since the Cold War. U.S. forces are still fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, with no victory in sight. Despite losing most of its original leaders, al Qaeda has metastasized across the region.<\/p>\n

The Arab world has fallen into turmoil\u2014in good part due to the
\nUnited States\u2019 decisions to effect regime change in Iraq and Libya and
\nits modest efforts to do the same in Syria\u2014and the Islamic State, or
\nisis, has emerged out of the chaos. Repeated U.S. attempts to broker
\nIsraeli-Palestinian peace have failed, leaving a two-state solution further away than ever. Meanwhile, democracy has been in retreat worldwide, and the United States\u2019 use of torture, targeted killings, and other morally dubious practices has tarnished its image as a defender of human rights and international law.<\/p>\n

The United States does not bear sole responsibility for all these costly debacles, but it has had a hand in most of them. The setbacks are the natural consequence of the misguided grand strategy of liberal hegemony that Democrats and Republicans have pursued for years. This approach holds that the United States must use its power not only to solve global problems but also to promote a world order based on international institutions, representative governments, open markets, and respect for human rights. As \u201cthe indispensable nation,\u201d the logic goes, the United States has the right, responsibility, and wisdom to manage local politics almost everywhere. At its core, liberal hegemony is a revisionist grand strategy: instead of calling on the United States to merely uphold the balance of power in key regions, it commits American might to promoting democracy everywhere and defending human rights whenever they are threatened. Read on.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt writes in Foreign Affairs: For the first time in recent memory, large numbers of Americans are openly questioning their country\u2019s grand strategy. An April 2016 Pew poll found that 57 percent of Americans agree … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21791],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t