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America's Grand Strategy inthe 21 st Century
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Saving the World for Democracy
An Historical Analysis of Americas Grand Strategy in the 21
Colonel Joe Bassani
United States Army
A paper submitted to the faculty of the Joint Advanced
Warfighting School in partial satisfaction of the requirements of
a Master of Science Degree in Joint Campaign Planning and
The contents of this paper reflect my own personal views and
are not necessarily endorsed by the Joint Forces Staff College
or the Department of Defense.
This study examines Americas new grand strategy that has
emerged in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11
Grand strategy is an overarching concept that guides how
nations employ all of the instruments of national power to shape world
events and achieve specific national security objectives. Grand
strategy provides the linkage between national goals and actions by
establishing a deliberately ambiguous vision of the world as we would
like it to be (ends) and the methods (ways) and resources (means) we
will employ in pursuit of that vision. Effective grand strategies provide
a unifying purpose and direction to national leaders, public policy
makers, allies and influential citizens in the furtherance of mutual
This study looks at three separate and distinct historical
examples of grand strategy: The post-Republican Era of the Roman
Empire, the rise of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Kahn, and Great
Britain after the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the wars of Spanish
Succession. From these examples, we see the common threads that
run through all grand strategies and the different approaches that
nations take in pursuing their national interests.
Next, it examines the American experience with the emergence
of the so-called Monroe Doctrine (Americas first grand strategy), the
move toward multilateralism as a result of the Second World War, and
Americas 21
Century grand strategy that emerged post-9/11.
Lastly, I discuss the conflict between Americas values and her
national interests and the implications for Americas future at the end
of the Century.
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this
world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or
all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of
Government except all those other forms that have been tried from
time to time -Sir Winston Churchill in a speech before the House of
Commons on 11 November 1947
Few Americans will be surprised to discover in the decades to come
that the United States went to war in Iraq in the spring of 2003 to
secure strategic resources that are critical to our economic well-being.
They will, however, be quite surprised to learn that we were successful
in securing these resources not for ourselves but for the Peoples
Republic of China.
Unfettered access to oil is critical to the economic well-being of our
nation. According to the Committee on Resources for the US House of
Representatives, oil is essential to our economy, our national security
and our way of life (U.S. Congress, 2005). Oil is a key enabler of
modern life: from the cars we drive, the goods we buy, the trucks,
trains and airplanes that bring our goods to market, virtually every
sector of our economy is dependent on oil in one form or another.
Given the importance of oil as a strategic resource, one could easily
assume that Americas dependence on Middle Eastern oil played a
major role in the decision to invade Iraq (setting aside, of course, the
debate over weapons of mass destruction).
The data, however, do not support that assumption. According to the
US Department of Energy, the percentage of oil coming from the
Persian Gulf as a share of total US oil imports was just 20% in 2003
(the latest year that data was available). As a percentage of total US
consumption, Persian Gulf oil accounts for only 12% of Americas total
annual oil consumption for 2003. Canada, it turns out, is the primary
supplier of foreign oil to the United States, with Saudi Arabia ranking
second and Venezuela third; curiously enough, Iraq produces less than
4% of US oil imports.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the
areas and countries the US imports from and the normal day-to-day
destination of MENA [Middle East and North African] oil exports, is
strategically irrelevant (Cordesman, p.33). Conceding the point that
the United States is not directly dependent on oil imports from the
Middle East, one must still acknowledge the enormous impact that
MENA oil has on the worlds economy.
The United States, as part of the global economy of the 21
must be concerned with economic health of the other industrialized
nations of the world. Americans are voracious consumers of imported
goods, and we export more than any other nation on earth. Trade is
the engine of our prosperity, and all of our major trading partners
(outside of North and South America) are heavily dependent on MENA
oil. In 2002, MENA oil accounted for 42% of Europes imports, 72% of
Japans, 76% of the Asian/Pacific Rim states (excluding China) and
39% (and growing steadily) of Chinas oil imports.
Clearly the United States went to war in Iraq in 2003, in part, to
secure the worlds access to oil and we were absolutely right to do
so. In todays global economy, Americas economic well-being is
inexorably linked to the fortunes of our Asian and European trading
But access to oil is not the only reason the United States went to war
in Iraq; were it so, we could have tolerated the status quo. The
sanctions and no-fly zones, while not perfect, were sustainable. After
all, the United States contained the Soviet Union for more than forty
years; certainly we could have marshaled the political will to contain
Saddam Hussein.
If oil was not the major reason that the United States chose to go to
war, why, then, did the United States commit its blood, treasure and
international reputation by invading Iraq? In a speech on the South
Lawn of the White House, in October of 2004, President Bush defended
the war as necessary to protect America and the world from the threat
of terrorist use of WMD:
Based on the information we have today, I
believe we were right to take action, and
America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in
prison. He retained the knowledge the
materials, the means and the intent to produce
weapons of mass destruction. And he could
have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist
enemies, Saddam Hussein was a unique
threat, a sworn enemy of our country, a state
sponsor of terror, operating in the worlds most
volatile region. In a world after September the
, he was a threat we had to confront. And
America and the world are safer for our actions
(Bush, 2004).
Five months later the President elaborated on the Iraqi situation in a
speech on the War on Terror, delivered at the National Defense
University. In that speech, the President stated that [o]ur immediate
strategy is to eliminate terrorist threats abroad, so we do not have to
face them here at homeOur strategy to keep the peace in the longer
term is to help change the conditions that give rise to extremism and
terror, especially in the broader Middle East (Bush, 2005).
On several occasions the President has articulated his belief that the
security of the United States is directly linked to political freedom and
stability in the Middle East. If relieved from the oppression and tyranny
of dictatorship, the logic suggests, the people of the Middle East will be
free to pursue their own unique version of life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness. This philosophy raises several interesting questions: How
did the president come to his conclusion regarding the link between
the spread of democracy and peace? How will his belief be translated
into tangible US policy? Finally, are we willing to bet the future
security of the United States on the Presidents assumption?
The United States of America has one of the most sophisticated
national security bureaucracies of any nation in history. The National
Security Council, created in 1947 to coordinate foreign and defense
policy, assists the President in the formulation and execution of
Americas national security policy. The organization of the NSC has
evolved over the course of the eleven administrations it has served,
but its primary function remains unchanged: assist the President in
formulating national security policy and help him coordinate the
agencies of the Executive Branch that control some of the elements of
Americas national power.
The Congress, like the President, has its own national security
apparatus to assist lawmakers in executing their national security
responsibilities. An informal survey of the House and Senate
committee websites reveals at least a dozen standing committees
dedicated to oversight of national security issues. Our government is
awash in directors, analysts, advisors and panels of experts who are
dedicated to helping our elected officials craft and implement effective
national security policies.
The National Security Act of 1947 mandates that the President
transmit to Congress, annually, a report on the national security
strategy of the United States. The Act stipulates that the annual
report include proposed short-term and long-term uses of the
political, economic, military, and other elements of the national power
of the United States to protect or promote the interests and achieve
the goals and objectives that are vital to our national security (SEC
108, 50 USC, 404a). This requirement was reiterated in 1986 as part
of the Goldwater-Nichols Act (USC Public Law 99-433.Sec.104,b 3).
The National Security Strategy attempts to codify what had previously
been a fluid, undefined process that involved a wide variety of
interested parties formal and informal, foreign and domestic
working to build a long term strategy for enhancing the security of the
nation. This strategy was (and still is in academic circles) regularly
referred to as grand strategy.
Some of the most important and difficult decisions that our political
and military leaders face involve grand strategy. These decisions are
important because they very often have a profound impact on the
long-term security and economic vitality of our nation. Moreover, they
usually involve long-term investments of political and economic
resources, as well as the support and commitment of the American
Grand-strategic decisions are difficult because they deal with
intangibles; they require leaders to think conceptually and to visualize
the effects of a series of seemingly unrelated actions. Crafting and
implementing effective grand-strategic decisions requires vision,
foresight, and the ability to read-between-the-lines to discern the
intentions of foreign leaders both friend and foe alike.
This is why political leaders routinely struggle with the question of
motivations: Why do men do what they do, or perhaps more
importantly, why do nations act as they do? Why does a nation
pursue one particular course of action over another? Why, for
example, did the Romans destroy Carthage in the spring of 146 BC?
Why did Union forces fight a bloody war of attrition against the
Confederates during the American Civil War, rather than accept
secession? Why did America adopt a Germany first strategy during
the Second World War, rather than make the Pacific Theater of
Operations (PTO) the main effort from the outset? Or, more recently,
why did the United States preemptively attack Iraq in 2003 while
pursuing quite a different approach with Iran and North Korea? In the
search for an answer to these questions, one must first come to grips
with the concept of grand strategy what it is and why we need one.
Grand Strategy Defined
Nailing down a commonly accepted definition of grand strategy can be
difficult. Many respected pundits use the terms strategy and grand
strategy interchangeably. Quite often, there is not even a common
understanding among academics and defense analysts of what
constitutes a grand strategy. In the following pages, I will review the
work of selected authors regarding grand strategy and offer my own,
humble definition as a starting point toward a greater understanding of
grand strategy, in general, and American grand strategy, in particular.
Early writings on military art, while dealing primarily with military
tactics and strategy, make no distinction between strategy and grand
strategy. Over twenty five hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote The Art
of War, as a treatise on military tactics and strategy. In it, he
addresses the tactical application of military forces when, for example,
when he advises the tactic of using the extraordinary and the normal
forces (Griffith, p.91) and the strategy of combining tactics into
offensive maneuvers like the direct and the indirect (Griffith, p. 102).
More than two thousand years later, one of the western worlds most
famous and influential military theorists, Carl von Clausewitz, wrote
that tactics teaches the use of armed forces in the engagement;
strategy, the use of engagements for the object of the war
(Clausewitz, p. 146). Here, Clausewitz offers us a clear and succinct,
albeit a bit sterile, description of strategy and its relationship to
tactics. Clausewitz limits his discussion, however, to military forces
and functions a surprisingly narrow view from a man who asserted
that war is an act of policy [where] the political aim remains the first
consideration (Clasuewitz, p. 98). Though narrow as his focus may
be, Clausewitz opens the door to political and other non-military
considerations in the study of strategy.
In his seminal work, Strategy, one of the Twentieth Centurys most
gifted writers on the subject of strategic thought, Sir Basil Henry
Liddell Hart, amplified and extended the meaning of grand strategy.
Hart contends that the roles of grand strategy is to co-ordinate and
direct all the resources of a nation, or band of nations, towards the
attainment of the political object of the war (Hart, p.322).
Hart goes on to argue that the scope of grand strategy transcends the
military plane and extends into the fabric of a nations social life:
Grand strategy should both calculate and
develop the economic resources and man-
power of nations in order to sustain the
fighting services. Also the moral resources
for to foster the peoples willing spirit is often
as important as to possess the more concrete
forms of power. Grand strategy, too, should
regulate the distribution of power between the
several services, and between the services and
industry. Moreover, fighting power is but one
of the instruments of grand strategywhich
should take account of and apply the power of
financial pressure, of diplomatic pressure, of
commercial pressure, and, not the least of
ethical pressure, to weaken the opponents
will. A good cause if a sword as well as armour.
Likewise, chivalry in war can be a most
effective weapon in weakening the opponents
will to resist, as well as augmenting moral
strength. (Hart, p.322)
According to Hart, grand strategy harnesses all of the elements of
national power in the pursuit of wartime objectives. Harts description
of grand strategy, while more expansive than Clausewitzs, is still
rather limited in its application. Hart reveals a rather linear
perspective on the relationship between war, peace, and grand
strategy. He seems to view war and peace in a binary sense as two
separate and distinct states of being, rather than alternating conditions
in a recurring cycle of international relations. Harts model depicts a
world where nations are either at war or peace with each other.
Harts approach forces him to confine his discussion of grand strategy
to its role in the conduct of war. He does, however, address the impact
of wartime grand strategy on the ensuing peace. According to Hart,
while the horizon of strategy is bounded by war, grand strategy looks
beyond the war to the subsequent peace. It should not only combine
the various instruments, but so regulate their use as to avoid damage
to the future state of the peace for its security and prosperity (Hart,
p.322). Clearly Hart understands that the type of grand strategy a
nation adopts will have significant consequences for securing the
peace, but he describes grand strategy as the political object of war,
rather than war as an element of a larger grand strategy.
In his excellent work, Surprise, Security, and the American Experience,
noted Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis provides a fascinating review of
American grand strategy from the earliest days of the Republic
through the Post-9/11 era. His view is broad and encompasses a
variety of political, military, and economic considerations.
Unfortunately, Gaddis limits his discussion to the evolution of American
grand strategy; he does not attempt to provide a working definition of
grand strategy itself.
Gaddiss colleague Paul Kennedy, however, takes grand strategy head
on. Kennedy makes, in my view, the best attempt to define grand
strategy when he asserts that the crux of grand strategy lies
therefore in policy, that is, in the capacity of the nations leaders to
bring together all of the elements, both military and nonmilitary, for
the preservation and enhancement of the nations long-term (that is,
in wartime and peacetime) best interests (Kennedy, p.5). Finally, it
seems, we are addressing the essence of grand strategy why it is
important and what separates it from simple strategy. According to
Kennedy, grand strategy has to do with somehow bringing together all
the elements, in peace and war, in pursuit of the nations best
interests. Now were getting somewhere.
When Kennedy refers to all the elements, one assumes he means all
the elements of national power. So in Kennedys view, grand strategy
is about directing the elements of national power, in both peacetime
and wartime, to achieve national goals and objectives (interests)
related to national security. So far, so good, but Kennedy seems to
backtrack, later, when he makes a differentiation between a wartime
and peacetime grand strategy:
This is not to say that grand strategy in peace is
identical to grand strategy in war. Clearly, the latter
condition calls for blood, sweat, toil and tears to a
degree that simply does not exist in peacetime. Like
the amateur athlete, the nation-state in times of
peace (that is, while not engaged in outright physical
competition) has to balance many desiderata
earning its keep, enjoying its pleasures, and keeping
fit and strong; but when the race (or a conflict)
occurs, a far larger amount of energies and effort is
given to winning and fighting, and the other
elements are left to later. After the event, one can
always return to normal. (Kennedy, p.169)
In my own view, a true grand strategy must transcend periods of
armed conflict or war. If grand strategy truly does, as Kennedy
suggests, bring together all of the elements, then it must have an
enduring quality that transcends (or perhaps even bridges) periods of
relative peace and war. Kennedys definition, while certainly an
improvement in terms of clarity, lacks the necessary descriptors which
allow one to distinguish grand strategy from any other kind of
Finally, former Senator Gary Hart describes grand strategy as the
application of power and resources to achieve large national purposes
(Hart, p.3). Putting aside the imprecise nature of the phrase large
national purposes, Senator Hart goes on to further explain that his
idea of grand strategy is meant to be a coherent framework of
purpose and direction in which random, and not so random, events
can be interpreted, given meaning, and then responded to as required
(Hart, p.33). Senator Harts definition, while succinct, is simply too
vague to provide the necessary traction for the purpose of this project.
As these examples show, the accepted understanding of grand
strategy has evolved over many centuries from a framework for the
proper application of military force, in time of war, to achieve national
objectives, to one that embraces all of the instruments of national
power, in both war and peace, for the same purpose. Still, the search
for the elusive definition of grand strategy, its essential qualities if you
will, is reminiscent of Socrates dialogue with Meno regarding the
essence of virtue, or as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart noted
about pornography: I may not be able to define it, but I know it when
I see it.
In full recognition of the intellectual giants, heretofore mentioned, I
offer my own definition of grand strategy as an overarching concept
that guides how nations employ all of the instruments of
national power to shape world events and achieve specific
national security objectives. Grand strategy provides the
linkage between national goals and actions by establishing a
deliberately ambiguous vision of the world as we would like it
to be (ends) and the methods (ways) and resources (means)
we will employ in pursuit of that vision.
Grand strategy, unlike a particular military strategy (The WWII Pacific
island hopping strategy, for example) or economic strategy (e.g. the
Marshall Plan) is both comprehensive and long term. It provides broad
direction for all of the elements of national power toward achieving a
more secure and prosperous future for the nation. It results in policies
which are long-range to be pursued over the course of decades,
rather than years.
The particular grand strategy that a nation embraces will influence
national decision making and will be reflected in how it answers the
basic, 5-W questions: who, what, where, when and why.
Who (or whom for the grammatically doctrinaire) do we consider our
adversaries or potential adversaries? Who will we ally ourselves with
(or against) in pursuit of our national interests? What specific actions
will we take in pursuit of our national interests? What issues are we
willing to go to war over (Vital versus important national interests)?
Where will we focus our diplomatic, economic and military efforts in
support of our national interests? When will we pursue rapprochement
with one adversary or standoff with another? Finally, why does a
nation take seemingly opposing positions on the same issue with
different nations? These are but a few of the questions that can be
answered by understanding grand strategy.
A coherent grand strategy is not, in itself, a prescription for national
security and prosperity. Obviously, some grand strategies are more
successful than others. A successful a grand strategy must meet the
following criteria: First, it must be sufficiently ambiguous to allow for
broad interpretation. Secondly, it must be resource informed. And
finally, when implemented, it must ultimately leave the nation more
rather than less secure.
Ambiguity is the oil that lubricates a successful grand strategy. It
allows the nations political leaders the freedom of maneuver to build
coalitions, promote domestic acceptance, or keep an adversary off-
balance. Bumper sticker phrases like containment, Cold War, and
Manifest Destiny often evoke understanding in one listener that is
sufficiently different in another to allow for unified action in the face of
conflicting interests. How else can one explain how a diverse
organization like NATO, with its wide diversity in national interests and
international perspectives, maintained such a cohesive stance during
its first fifty years?
No grand strategy can reasonably expect to succeed if it ignores
national limitations. Leaders of small nations (Great Britain being the
notable exception) cannot reasonably expect to operate unilaterally for
extended periods of time and still achieve their national objectives.
Most nations employ grand strategies that rely on building coalitions
and leveraging their own unique, national capabilities to achieve their
ends. Very few nations in history possessed the resources to act
alone, all the time. Leaders must continually take stock of their
national assets and balance them against the grand strategy.
Lastly, and most importantly, a successful grand strategy must
enhance the long-term well being of the nation it serves. For as Saint
Matthew admonished in the Gospel, For what is a man profited, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?(Matthew,16:26).
National leaders must take care to ensure that operational victories do
not result in strategic defeats. In other words, the price of victory
should not be so dear as to bankrupt the physical and moral reserves
of the nation.
Determining Factors
A successful grand strategy has, at its core, a set of basic principles
which provide the intellectual framework for its development and
implementation. These principles are nationally unique and derive
from geography, natural resources, political institutions, demographics
and historical precedent. It is within the unique context of particular
circumstance that each nation derives its grand strategy. Great Britain
provides an excellent example.
From the time of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, through
the end of the Second World War, naval power was the centerpiece of
British military power and a driving force behind her grand strategy. A
casual observer might consider this development a no brainer. One
could even reasonably argue that the rise of the British Navy as the
dominant military arm and instrument in service of British Imperial
power was preordained. One wonders, then, why Imperial Japan, also
an island nation, saw her army as the decisive force around which she
pursued the military objectives of her grand strategy.
The answer to that question has more to do with the motivations
behind imperial aspirations Great Britain being concerned primarily
with economics while Imperial Japan sought to secure both strategic
resources and international status. In any event, the evolution of
grand strategy involves a complex set of relationships with factors
that, at first look, may not seem to be directly related to national
Interestingly enough, while national values tend weigh heavily in the
formulation of grand strategy, quite often they play a much smaller
role in the execution of grand strategy than most politicians or policy
makers would care to admit. During the Cold War, for example, a
succession of US administrations, both Republican and Democrat,
maintained close ties with un-democratic foreign leaders (Ferdinand
Marcos and the Shaw of Iran are two that come immediately to mind)
because it was in our national interest at the time.
With a better understanding of what grand strategy is, let us now look
at how grand strategies evolve and come to gain popular acceptance.
So how does a nation actually decide upon a particular grand strategy?
Do governments actually make a conscious effort to develop a grand
strategy, or does it simply evolve over time? And if, in fact, grand
strategies are arrived at in a logical and deliberate way, how do the
processes that produce them differ in open, democratic societies vice
closed, totalitarian ones?
To present a functioning grand strategy, the national political process
must achieve consensus amongst the polity that will implement it. Of
course polities differ greatly across the various forms of government,
but still, those individuals, groups and institutions with equities at
stake in the nations political life must buy in to the strategy, if it will
have any real chance of success.
Grand Strategy Through the Ages: The Roman Empire
From the earliest days of the Republic, the citizens of Rome, as
reflected in the actions of the Roman Senate, were obsessed with the
security and defense of Rome. Enduring memories of the humiliation
at the capture of Rome in 390 BC by northern barbarians fueled the
Roman quest for security behind frontier lands and borders. In the
first two centuries of the Republic, Roman Legions rebounded from a
series of defeats as they subdued the Italian peninsula, conquered
Sicily, and defeated their most potent regional rival, the Carthaginians.
The destruction of Carthage in 146 BC is illustrative of how the
Romans used their scarce military resources to achieve lasting effect
especially in the eastern lands. The Roman Senate believed that
Carthage, with her enormous wealth and history of military success,
posed an unacceptable risk to Roman security. For more than a
century, Rome waged a series of costly wars against her North African
rival for domination over the Mediterranean region. Finally, in 149
B.C., Rome issued an ultimatum to the citizens of Carthage: abandon
the city or fight; to the delight of the Senate, the Carthaginians chose
to fight.
After three years of savage combat, Carthage fell to the Roman
legions. The men who refused to surrender were slaughtered, the
women and children taken as slaves, and the city razed to the ground.
So complete was the destruction of the city that it is still widely
believed today that the Romans ploughed up the ground and sowed it
with salt to prevent anything from ever growing there again. While
there is no historical evidence to support the salting tactic, the
durability of the story itself serves as a testament to the ruthlessness
of the Roman legion and the willingness of Rome to use examples of
the power of her military might for deterrent effect.
British historian Tom Holland describes the Roman use of armed force
as a means of spreading fear and intimidation:
The legions combination of efficiency and
ruthlessness was something for which few
opponents found themselves prepared. When
the Romans were compelled by defiance to
take a city by storm, it was their practice to
slaughter every living creature they found.
Rubble left behind by the legionaries could
always be distinguished by the way in which
severed dogs heads or the dismembered limbs
of cattle would lie strewn among the human
corpses. The Romans killed to inspire terror,
not in a savage frenzy but as the disciplined
components of a fighting machine. (Holland,
In large measure, the Roman Republic was built on acquiescence
rather than outright military domination. Rome tempered the threat of
violence with liberal inducements aimed at creating client states that
would accept long-distance rule from Rome. To states that humbly
acknowledged their superiority, the Romans would grant such favors
as a patron condescends to grant his clients, but to those who defied
them, only ceaseless combat. No Roman could tolerate the prospect
of his city losing face. Rather than endure it, he would put up with any
amount of suffering, go to any lengths (Holland, p.6).
Eventually the imperial success of the Republic would lead to its
downfall, as generals succumbed to the temptations of power, and the
excess of newfound wealth corrupted the body politic. What began as
a policy of national security through conquest, led to internal revolt
and, ultimately, to dictatorship.
In The Grand strategy of the Roman Empire, Edward Luttwak outlines
the evolution of Roman grand strategy through three distinct systems
of imperial rule over the course of more than three centuries. Luttwak
describes these systems as the Julio-Claudian System of expanding
client states, the Antonine system of stability and consolidation, and
Defense-in-Depth. These examples offer an excellent opportunity to
review the history of Roman grand strategy and will aid in deepening
our own understanding of the application of grand strategy.
According to Luttwak, [f]or the Romans, as for ourselves, the two
essential requirements of an evolving civilization were a sound
material base and adequate security. For the Romans, as for
ourselves, the elusive goal of strategic statecraft was to provide
security for the civilization without prejudicing the vitality of its
economic base and without compromising the stability of an evolving
political order (Luttwak, p.1).
If Luttwaks assessment is correct and I believe that it is we can
only regard the grand strategy of the Republic era as a failure. The
outbreak of civil war and the eventual rise of Julius Caesar
demonstrated that the power of an empire will not rest peacefully in
the hands of a governing body of equals, committed to consensus rule.
By pursuing a grand strategy that sought to expand the empire, the
Roman Senate embarked on a course that created instability in the
very political institutions they were trying to preserve. Thus, the well-
being of the Republic was not enhanced by this strategy.
The Julio-Claudian grand strategy that evolved after the reign of Julius
Caesar differed from its predecessor in the means it employed rather
than the ends it hoped to achieve. For while both strategies sought to
enhance Roman security and economic vitality, and both embraced the
expansion of the Roman Empire, the new strategy actually succeeded
in its goal of securing the wealth and stability of successive post-
Republican governments.
From the time of Augustus, in 27 BC, through the reign of Nero, which
ended with his death in 68 AD, the Romans pursued a grand strategy
of global hegemony that leveraged client states and tribes to serve as
the bulwark against foreign invasion. All the elements of Roman
power the diplomatic, military, and economic were employed with
the goal of leveraging the power of others to secure Rome and her
Much is made and rightfully so of the military might of the Roman
Empire. But military might alone stood little chance of dominating and
subduing such a large and diverse empire. At its most powerful, Rome
could field only twenty eight legions (approximately 175,000 men).
Even counting the auxiliary forces provided by her client states, the
number of men under arms for Rome totaled only about three hundred
and fifty thousand. There is simply no way that a force that small
could maintain a presence throughout an Empire that spanned from
North Africa in the south, to Germany in the north, and from Spain in
the west, to Syria in the east and beyond.
The strategy that the Romans employed, distributed Roman Legions to
strategic locations across the empire that enabled them to reinforce
trouble spots or to move quickly to check an invasion or quell an
Thus, in A.D. 6, out of a total of twenty-eight
legions, four were in Spain, five on the Rhine
or beyond, two in Raetia, five in Illyricum,
three in Moesia, and nine in the whole of North
Africa, Egypt, and Syria. After the ambush of
Varuss legion in A.D. 9, the Spanish garrison
was reduced to three, the German increased to
eight, the Raetian eliminated, and Illyricun left
unchanged, and the Moeshian reduced to two.
One legion remained in North Africa, two in
Egypt, and four in Syria. This distribution was
maintained until the invasion of Britain in A.D.
43. (Luttwak, p. 47)
Given the uneven and selective distribution of Roman forces, how are
we to account for the remarkable stability of the empire? To
compensate for their relative paucity of military forces, the Romans
employed a variety of diplomatic measures aimed at securing the
support of their client states and tribes. Vassal kings and tribal chiefs
were offered inducements to secure their loyalty to Rome. Everything
was on the table: from subsidy payments to land grants even offers
of Roman citizenship. In fact, the most cherished honorific that a
client head of state could hope to achieve was the title amicus populi
Romani (friend of the Roman people). And should promise of
treasure, land or title fail to secure the support of a reluctant king, the
threat of Roman military action usually produced the intended effect.
It is the absence of a perimeter defense that is
the key to the entire system of Roman imperial
security of this period. There were neither
border defenses nor local forces to guard the
imperial territories against low-intensity
threats of petty infiltration, transborder
incursion, or localized attacksuch protection
was provided, but by indirect and nonmilitary
means. By virtually eliminating the burden of
maintaining continuous frontier defenses, the
net, disposable military power generated by
the imperial forces was maximized. Hence, the
total military power that others could perceive
as being available to Rome for offensive use
and that could therefore be put to political
advantage by diplomatic means -- was also
maximized. (Luttwak, p.19)
Economic power, the final element of the Julio-Claudian Strategy,
provided a powerful tool that helped to bind the empire together.
While many client states chaffed in their role as vassals of Rome, and
open rebellion was certainly not unheard of, few were willing to
foreswear the economic benefits of imperial trade. Even among the
barbarian tribes of Germany, the lure of Roman wealth was strong.
Roman Grand Strategy
Client States
Tribal Clients
The elegance of the Julio-Claudian grand strategy is evident, not in it
application of raw power but, rather, in its economy of force. [B]y
virtue of their very existence, the client states absorbed the burden of
providing peripheral security against border infiltration and other low-
intensity threats. (Luttwak, p.24) Here we see the kind of synergy
that military force, diplomacy and economic partnerships can achieve.
By viewing the empire as a balanced system of alliance, conquest and
economics, Rome secured a frontier that was largely self-sustaining.
The shift in grand strategy from which occurred with the passing of the
Julio-Claudian system to the era of the Antonine system reflects the
inevitable maturation of the empire. Notwithstanding the endemic
insecurity of its unguarded frontiers, the Julio-Claudian system was
highly efficientefficient, that is, in terms of the goals of the empire at
that time. But by the second century the goals had changed.
(Luttwak, p. 75)
By about 69 A.D., the Roman appetite for large-scale conquest had
been sated; this was a period of consolidation. Barbarian tribes were
being assimilated. The newly fortified frontier was a place where
lesser, unassimilated barbarian tribes were segregated from their more
civilized (Romanized) kin. Moreover, the resources of Rome were
stretched thin and continued expansion of the Empire was simply not
practical. The time for governing rather than expanding the empire
had arrived.
Under the Antonine system, Roman grand strategy no longer relied on
client states and tribes to provide frontier security. During the
Antonine period, Roman priorities shifted from expanding and
exploiting frontier client states, to securing a tranquil peace
throughout the empire in order to promote growth, commerce, trade
and, above all, political stability (or what Luttwak calls
Romanization). As the frontier regions become increasingly pacified
and prosperous, they also become more accepting of Roman rule, and
much like the relationship of American Colonies to England, they begin
to see themselves as Romans, with all the rights and privileges
The decline of the client state system began around 70 A.D., when
Vespasian assumed the throne after the civil war which followed Neros
death. Vespasian saw the client state system as burdensome,
derisively referring to the political maneuvering required to secure
client state support as the leisurely processes of diplomacy. Under
the Julio-Claudian system, Rome had an interest in maintaining a
balance of power amongst her client states adjudicating disputes and
punishing unsanctioned military actions, such as Herods move against
neighboring Nabatean Arabia during the rule of Augustus Caesar.
Under the Antonine system, Rome began to annex her client states
and take on the responsibility for their border defense as provincial
entities of the empire.
Roman Grand Strategy
Tribal Clients
Why, one might ask, did Rome decide to change a grand strategy that
had worked so well for so long? The answer, while paradoxical, is
actually quite logical: Strong client states were useful to Rome, only
so long as she herself could maintain overwhelming military (and
ultimately political) power over them. Strong client states enjoyed a
measure of autonomy within the empire, so long as they employed
their own military forces in the defense of the frontier and, most
importantly, did not challenge the authority of Rome.
From the founding of the Republic to the end of the Julio-Claudia era,
Rome wielded unprecedented power. During this period of imperial
expansion, Roman client states understood the power of the legions
and the willingness of the emperor to use those legions to assert
Roman authority. Usually Romes clients weighed their options and
chose to accept their role as semi-autonomous clients. Any king who
wished to keep his throne would have to lead his military forces in
service to the empire.
By the time of Vespasian, however, Rome had neither the inclination
nor the resources for continued conquest. The civil war that followed
Neros death left the political will of the empire exhausted.
Furthermore, Vespasian certainly understood the danger that a
powerful military commander left to his own devices on the frontier,
posed to the established order in Rome.
Under the Julio-Claudians, the stronger a client
state was, the better it could fulfill its diverse
security functions. An empire that was
perceived as capable of further expansion was
also an empire that could keep its powerful
clients in subjection. Not so under the new
system, in which the only satisfactory clients
were those weak enough to be kept in awe by
the forces deployed in direct proximity to
them. In the absence of the ultimate sanction
of annexation, only weak clients were safe
clients. But their very weakness rendered them
unsatisfactory as providers of free military
services. Strong client states, on the other
hand, had now become dangerous, since the
bonds of dependence had been weakened.
(Luttwak, p.114)
The evolution in Roman grand strategy that occurred under the
Antonine system was the result of economic concerns, as well as
military factors, and it affected more than just the disposition of
Roman military forces. Diminishing economic opportunity, as well as
the need for security, drove the abandonment of expansion and
establishment of rigid borders. By 70 A.D. the Empire had enveloped
nearly all of the economically developed regions within reach. At the
close of the 1
Century A.D., Rome held dominion over an empire that
reached the ocean in the west, the Parthian empire in the East, and
barbarian tribes with little to offer in the way of goods or valuable
resources in the north. Since there was no profit in extending the
empire further, Rome turned inward.
The death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD marks the beginning of the
end for the Antonine period. With the murder if his son and heir to the
throne, Commodus, in 192 AD, a disgraceful period of internecine war,
bribery, and treachery ensued. Between the natural death of
Septimus Severus in 211 and the accession of Diocletian in 284, there
were twenty-four more-or-less legitimate emperors and many more
usurpers. (Luttwak, p.128) It was Diocletion, finally, who brought
order to the chaos through political and military innovations that would
preserve the Roman Empire for another century.
Diocletians political reforms centered on the introduction of the
tetrarchy as the new form of imperial authority in Rome. By cleaving
the empire in two and establishing an Augustus of the East and an
Augustus of the West, he returned political stability to the body politic
and ended the bloody wars of succession that had plagued the Empire
for decades.
Militarily, Diocletion established the strategy of Defense-in-depth,
based on a combination of static fortresses and mobile field armies.
When frontier fortifications were overrun, the Legions would resort to
an open, mobile form of warfare. The preferred method during this
period, however, was to tie armies into existing, fortified positions
along the frontier:
Meeting only static guard posts and weak
patrol forces on the frontier, the enemy could
frequently cross the line virtually unopposed,
but in the context of defense-in-depth, this no
longer meant that the defense system had
been turned and overrun. Instead, the
enemy would find itself in a peripheral combat
zone of varying depth, within which
strongholds large and small as well as walled
cities, fortified farmhouses, fortified granaries,
and fortified refuges would remain, each
capable of sustained resistance against
enemies unequipped with siege-machines.
Within and beyond this zone were the mobile
forces of the defense, deployed to fight in the
open but with the support of the fortified
places. (Luttwak, p.132)
From the earliest days of the Republic, to the eventual sack of Rome in
410 A.D. by the Goths, the Senate and emperors of Rome had a grand
strategy for securing the physical and economic well-being of the
empire. And as the geo-political situation evolved over decades of
conquest and rule, so too, did Roman grand strategy.
Genghis Kahn and the Mongol Empire
For centuries the name Genghis Kahn has evoked images of unbridled
barbarism and chaos. Its probably a pretty safe bet to assume that
very few people today would use words like diplomacy, commerce,
international law, and grand strategy when discussing the ruler of the
ancient Mongol nation. It is actually quite remarkable, really, that
history should portray the man who built the largest empire in the
history of the world as more warlord than geopolitical strategist.
While Genghis Kahn had none of the organs of a modern, sophisticated
national security system at his disposal, he did, nonetheless, have a
grand strategy or vision for the Mongol nation. Although unwritten,
Genghis Kahns grand strategy for the Mongol nation was remarkably
successful in harnessing the military power of the Mongol tribe,
integrating diplomatic efforts, and creating a system of economic
relationships that joined the traders of the east with the markets of
the west. For [a]lthough he arose out of the ancient tribal past,
Genghis Kahn shaped the modern world of commerce, communication,
and large secular states more than any other individual. He was the
thoroughly modern man in his mobilized and professional warfare and
in his commitment to global commerce and the rule of international
secular law. (Weatherford, p.267)
Temujin, the boy who would one day be known as Genghis Kahn, was
born in the spring of 1162 A.D., to the Black Bone or lower caste of
the Asian Steppe people. By the accepted standard of the day, the
boy was completely unremarkable: He was not particularly large or
physically gifted, and his temperament suggested nothing especially
useful to a warrior culture. Nonetheless, this young boy was destined
to one day remake the world in his own image and forge the greatest
empire in the history of the world.
As a member of the lower caste, Temujin was forced to defer to his
betters those White Bones who achieved their positions in the
established order by right of birth. His personal frustrations forced
him by 1181 A.D. to set out on his own and establish his own clan.
Taking a novel approach to the task of building his court, Temujin
appointed his followers to positions of responsibility based on merit,
rather than caste or family connections. So effective was his system
that he quickly established himself as a beloved leader amongst the
Mongol people. In fact, by the age of nineteen, Temujin seems to
have determined to become a warrior leader of his own, to attract his
own followers and build a base of power, eventually aiming to become
a khan, the leader and unifier of the unruly Mongol tribe.
(Weatherford, p,39)
As he continued to expand his influence over his own tribe, Temujin
began to see himself as a unifying force for all of the Steppe people.
Historically the balance of power in the region shifted from Kahn to
Kahn in a series of continuous battles. But as he continued to
consolidate his power, Temujin grew determined to bring all of the
tribes under one rule. Once he consolidated rule over his own tribe,
Temujin began his conquest over all of the Eurasian Steppe, and by
1206, he had united all of the nomadic tribes of Eurasia the Tartars,
the Keyrid, and the Naiman -- under his rule as Mongols.
With his power base secure, Genghis Kahn, the 44 year-old ruler of the
Great Mongol Nation, turned his attention outward. While he
commanded a great army of warriors, he ruled over an impoverished
nation with no industry and little wealth. As he looked across the
great Gobi desert to the south, The Great Kahn saw the flow of riches
along the silk route. And while the chieftains of the various tribes he
had defeated in battle were content to skirmish over women, horses or
scraps of cloth, Genghis Kahn had a grander vision: the vision of an
empire united in commerce under the stability and protection of
Mongol rule.
Because he understood that military conquest alone would not achieve
the kind of lasting results he sought, Genghis Khan pursued his vision
of empire with a grand strategy that harnessed all of the instruments
of Mongol power. Under his rule, military victories were exploited by
diplomatic and economic maneuvers and, often times, diplomacy and
economic agreements actually preceded military operations.
By 1211 A.D. Genghis Kahn was ready to begin the expansion of his
empire. With the experience he acquired from his victories over the
Steppe tribes, he led his army south across the Gobi and began the
conquest of the Jurched territory, in what today is modern China.
Advancing against walled cities, usually fighting outnumbered and
facing a technologically superior foe, Genghis Kahn employed a
military strategy that featured a carrot and stick approach:
Genghis Kahn recognized that warfare was not
a sporting contest or a mere match between
rivals; it was a total commitment of one people
against another. Victory did not come to the
one who played by the rules; it came to the
one who made the rules and imposed them on
his enemy. Triumph could not be partial. It
was complete, total, and undeniable or it was
nothing. In battle, this meant the unbridled
use of terror and surprise. In peace, it meant
the steadfast adherence to a few basic but
unwavering principles that created loyalty
among the common people. Resistance would
be met with death, loyalty with security.
(Weatherford, p.8)
The success of Temujins Mongol warriors is legendary. Not since the
empire of Rome had the world witnessed such a display of military
prowess. Leading a nation-tribe of less than one million souls, with an
army of approximately one hundred thousand warriors, Genghis Khan
conquered an area of approximately 12 million square miles. In
twenty five years, the Mongol army subjugated more lands and people
than the Romans had conquered in four hundred years. (Weatherford,
p. xviii)
The strategy that the Mongols employed against an enemy involved a
sophisticated combination of diplomacy backed by the force. As he
consolidated his power amongst the tribes of the Asian Steppe,
Genghis Kahn cultivated his reputation as a fierce warrior. His military
strategy was remarkably fluid and asymmetric.
All Mongolian warriors were mounted, and without armor, they were
fast and agile. If his opponent possessed a large infantry force,
Genghis Kahns armies waged a mobile campaign that employed hit-
and-run tactics designed to spread the opposing army out. If he
defended behind great city walls, the Great Kahns warriors laid siege
to them, employing their engineers to build siege engines to reduce
their defenses. If the enemy possessed a large peasant population,
the Mongol armies drove them like cattle ahead of their advance,
straight into the defending enemy army:
The Mongol army divided into small units
that attacked undefended villages, set them
afire, and chased out the residents. The
frightened peasants fled in all directions. They
clogged the highways and made it difficult for
the Jurched supply convoys to move. In the
Jurched campaign, more than a million
refugees fled the countryside in desperation
and poured into the cities; they ate up huge
stores of food, and caused chaos wherever
they went. (Weatherford, p.92)
The Mongols brutal military tactics supported Genghis Kahns
preferred diplomatic approach to conquest: as the Mongol armies
approached the capitol city of a kingdom, the general in charge sent a
messenger with a surrender demand. If the prince surrendered his
city, offered tribute and pledged his loyalty to the Mongol empire, the
city was spared and the monarch kept his throne as a vassal of
Genghis Kahn; if not, the city was razed, the prince publicly beheaded,
and his wives distributed to deserving Mongol generals.
This approach supported Genghis Khans grand strategy of expanding
his empire to establish hegemony over large parts of Europe, China,
the Middle East and India in order to connect them in trade and,
ultimately, enrich his own people. Certainly the Mongols would take
what they wanted by force, but if they could coerce a ruler to submit
to Mongol rule through fear, enlightened self-interest, or a
combination of both, so much the better. In the end, all that really
mattered to Genghis Kahn was that Mongol rule remained secure and
Mongolian Grand Strategy
Engage Expand Exploit
Conquer Compel Deter
Trade Tribute
Above all else, economic considerations drove Mongolian grand
strategy. By 1260 A.D., the Mongol Empire stretched over two
continents, connecting the major cites of Zhongdu (Beijing), Moscow,
Kiev, and Baghdad. Mongolian officers engaged in lucrative trading
with merchants as far away as Venice and Geona. More importantly,
the Mongols controlled the trade routes that joined east with west.
Understanding the value of trade and commerce to their empire, the
Mongols introduced a sophisticated finance system to support their
global trade:
Genghis Khan had authorized the use of paper
money backed by precious metals and silk
shortly before his death in 1227. The practice
grew erratically in the coming years, but by
the time of Mongke Khans reign, it became
necessary to limit the paper money supply in
ways that it was not necessary to do with gold
and silver coins. Mongke recognized the
dangers incurred by earlier administrations
that issued paper money and debt on an ad
hoc basis, and in 1253 he created a
Department of Monetary Affairs to control and
standardize the issuance of paper money. The
superintendent of the agency centralized
control to prevent the overissue of paper
money and the erosion of its value through
inflation. (Weatherford, p.176)
Mongke Khan, like his grandfather before him, understood that the
real value of money resided in dependence. By creating a stable and
effective monetary system, Mongke deepened economic ties and
tightened his grip on the vassal states of the empire.
Like the Romans before them, the Mongols employed their own unique
grand strategy that leveraged their national strengths and provided
direction to their subordinate military, diplomatic and economic
Great Britain and the European Balance of Power
With the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, England emerged as
an important world power. Her immediate reaction to this newfound
status was to take to the seas in pursuit of economic rewards.
According to Winston Churchill, in his acclaimed History of the English
Speaking Peoples, England had emerged from the Armada year as a
first-class powerThe success of the seamen pointed the way to wide
opportunities of winning wealth and fame in daring expeditions
(Churchill, p.155). As she continued her global conflict with Spain, a
British grand strategy began to emerge that blended the military
instrument, provided by her naval power, with economic expansion.
While British merchants struck out across the globe in search of
wealth, the Royal Navy continued its harassment of the Spanish at
every chance:
The coming years resound with attacks upon
the forces and allies of Spain throughout the
worldexpeditions to Cadiz, to the Azores, into
the Caribbean Sea, to the Low Countries, and,
in support of the Huguenots, to the northern
coasts of France. The story is one of confused
fights, conducted with slender resources and
culminating in a few great moments. The
policy of the English government was to
distract the enemy in every quarter of the
world. The island was at last secure.
(Churchill, p.155)
Beginning in the Eighteenth Century, during the Wars of Spanish
Succession, British grand strategy evolved to include a second
enduring objective: the balance of power on the European Continent.
According to John Hattendorf, Professor of maritime History at the
Naval War College, English statesmen believed that there must be a
balance of power in Europe which would hinder anyone [sic] nation
from interfering with the normal development of another nation
(Kennedy, p. 19).
To achieve a balance of power on the Continent, the British
government engaged in a series of diplomatic maneuvers aimed at
securing a Grand Alliance against France. Britain secured the active
support of the Dutch and the Portuguese, as well as lesser support
from the Austrians and the Germans, in a bid to encircle France and
her allies with the goal of dividing and weakening her superior military
strength. After more than a decade of global war, the treaty of Utrecht
secured a favorable peace for the British one that created a balance
of power in Europe, split the Spanish throne between the Habsburgs
and Bourbons, secured the Protestant succession and secured
significant trade and territorial advantages.
The grand strategy that emerged during the Eighteenth Century
capitalized on three British strengths-- naval dominance, grand
alliances, and colonial interests to achieve a balance of power in
Europe, thereby securing Great Britains physical and economic well-
being. Time and again, when Britain saw her security threatened, she
turned to this strategy to secure her long-term interests.
British Grand Strategy
National Security
Balance of Power in Europe
In one form or another, this grand strategy demonstrated its utility
throughout both the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century. For it was
Nelsons victory at Trafalgar, even more than Wellingtons at Waterloo,
that secured England from invasion and preserved the British Empire.
Whenever Britain chose to ignore her successful naval strategy as
economy of force in Europe (waterloo being the notable exception) she
paid dearly.
One could trace the decline of the Empire to the British entry into
World War One and their refusal to embrace this time-tested grand
strategy, resulting in four years of horrific carnage, the loss of an
entire generation and the erosion of confidence for the mass of British
in their national government. Liddell Harts dislike of Britains
overcommitment (as he viewed it) to the western front led him to put
the case for the British way of warfare: that is to say, for the
historical strategy of an island-state chiefly reliant upon sea power,
and contributing the instruments of the maritime blockade, financial
subsidies, and peripheral operations but not large scale continental
army to the coalition assembled to defeat any power which sought to
dominate Europe by force (Kennedy, p. 3).
The Evolution of American Grand strategy
National security is the 800 pound gorilla of American politics.
Providing for the common defense is one of the fundamental
justifications for our very form of government. The image of the
citizen-soldier, the minuteman, ready to take up arms in defense of his
community is seared into the American consciousness. As a nation of
immigrants (excepting, of course, the American Indians), most
Americans have a sense that securing the American Dream is an
obligation that comes with their birthright as Americans.
Since the earliest days of the Republic, American statesmen have
struggled to achieve a balance between national security and American
values. During the debates over ratification of the Constitution,
Alexander Hamilton addressed Americas security interests in The
Federalist Papers. Prior to ratification of the federal Constitution,
Pennsylvania and North Carolina adopted constitutions which declared,
[a]s standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, THEY
OUGHT NOT to be kept up (Hamilton, federalist No.24). Hamilton,
however, advanced the argument for a standing federal army as
essential to the security of the nation:
Though a wide ocean separates the United
States from Europe, yet there are various
considerations that warn us against an excess
of confidence or security. On one side of us,
and stretching far into our rear, are growing
settlements subject to the dominion of Britain.
On the other side, and extending to meet the
British settlements, are the colonies and
establishments subject to dominion of Spain.
This situation and the vicinity of the West India
Islands, belonging to these two powers, create
between them, in respect to their American
possessions and in relation to us, a common
interest. (Hamilton, Federalist no.24)
Hamilton further explained that the federal government, rather than
the individual states, had an obligation to provide for the defense of
the nation. In an early hint at preemption, Hamilton dismissed the
argument against maintaining a standing army in peacetime as an
invitation to attack by a hostile foreign power. Should those opposed
to a peacetime standing army prevail, Hamilton reasoned, [w]e must
receive the blow before we could even prepare to return it. All that
kind of policy by which nations anticipate distant danger, and meet the
gathering storm, [italics added for emphasis] must be abstained from,
as contrary to the general maxims of a free government (Hamilton,
Federalist no.25).
This early argument over the need for a standing army is illustrative of
the struggle to decide just what kind of nation the people of the United
States of America wished to build. The election of George Washington
as our first president would establish precedent for American national
security policy for over a century.
As a military commander, Washington understood that military power
is an essential component of national security. As a pragmatist,
however, he also understood that American military power was
limited, and that America, as a second-rate power compared to Great
Britain, France and Spain, could easily find herself in the position of a
pawn in the European balance-of-power game. Neutrality, Washington
reasoned, was the only way that America could protect her
Throughout his presidency, George Washington spoke frequently and
eloquently in favor of neutrality in European affairs, in particular, and
detachment from foreign intrigue, in general. Washingtons numerous
writings and speeches on the subject revealed a deeply-held sentiment
that would resonate throughout our government for over a century. In
his farewell address to Congress, Mr. Washington declared,
If we remain one People, under an efficient
government, the period is not far off, when we
may defy material injury from external
annoyance; when we may take such an
attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at
any time resolve upon to be scrupulously
respected; when belligerent nations, under the
impossibility of making acquisitions upon us,
will not lightly hazard the giving us
provocation; when we may choose peace or
war, as our interest guided by our justice shall
CounselTis our true policy to steer clear of
permanent Alliances, with any portion of the
foreign world (Washington, p.975).
Washingtons impact on future American policymakers cannot be
overstated. His isolationist sentiments served as the bedrock of an
embryonic American foreign policy that continued to evolve throughout
the Nineteenth Century. So strong is the isolationist strain in the
American body politic that, even today, in an America that is the most
engaged and important nation in the world, Americans are reminded of
Washingtons famous admonishment to avoid foreign entanglements.
The Monroe Doctrine
In the decade following the end of the Revolutionary War, however,
Americans enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity, especially
when compared to the people of Europe who continued to be plagued
by tumult of war and revolution. Eminent American statesman and
future President, John Quincy Adams noted upon his return from
Europe in 1801 the contrast in the quality of life between the common
people of Europe and the United States. According to his biographer,
Samuel Bemis, Adams observes that [t]he standard of living had
steadily improved for the average man. Luxurious new mansions or
palaces, had sprung up for the more wealthy. The general well-being
was testimony to the success of the foreign policy of George
Washington and John Adams, which Thomas Jefferson took over and
continued in all essentials: peace, commerce, and honest friendship
with all nations, entangling alliances with none (Bemis, p111).
Adamss observations are important because he, perhaps more than
any other American statesman before or since, played a significant role
in shaping the future of American foreign policy. For John Quincy
Adams, the most influential American grand strategist of the
nineteenth century, was the principal architect of Americas first and
most enduring, national grand strategy (Gaddis, p.15).
John Quincy Adams was the most skilled and experienced diplomat of
his day. He received his first exposure to the affairs of state at the
age of ten when he accompanied his father during the elder Adamss
diplomatic mission to the courts of Europe in 1778. From his
experiences as a teenager in the courts of Europe, to his one term as a
Senator from Massachusetts, his assignment as Ambassador to Russia
and as Secretary of State in the Monroe administration, Adams
developed remarkable skill as a diplomat as well as a keen sense of
American independence.
Adams believed strongly in Manifest Destiny -- though that term had
yet to be coined. During his time as Ambassador to Russia, Adams
explained his position in a letter to his father:
The whole continent of North America, he told
his father, appears to be destined by Devine
Providence to be peopled by one nation,
speaking one language, professing one general
system of religious and political principles, and
accustomed to one general tenor of social
usages and customs. For the common
happiness of them all, for their peace and
prosperity, I believe it is indispensable that
they should be associated in one federal union.
(Remini, p.44)
During his one term as a United States Senator, Adams demonstrated
his understanding that American security depended on expansion
across the North American continent. At great risk to his future as a
Federalist politician, Adams publicly supported Jeffersons Louisiana
Purchase, even though he voted against on legal-technical grounds:
John Quincy Adams believed with John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson, as well as with the High
Federalists Rufus King and Alexander Hamilton,
in the annexation of Louisiana, if only as a
means of keeping Napoleon Bonaparte out of
that region for the peace and safety of the
United States. He was further convinced that
the loss of power and influence of his section
would be more than compensated by the
extension of national power and security.
(Bemis, p.119)
As Secretary of State during the Monroe Administration, Adams
demonstrated his genius as a diplomat by turning a potentially
embarrassing and dangerous situation into a stunning victory for
American interests in North America. Moreover, his handling of the
crisis brought on by the First Seminole War provided the intellectual
framework for Americas first true grand strategy that would ultimately
result in the Monroe Doctrine.
In 1818 President Monroe authorized General Andrew Jackson to
conduct a punitive expedition into Florida to punish Seminole warriors
for their raids into US territory and attacks on US citizens. Jacksons
mission, while certainly a military success, was a potential diplomatic
disaster. In the process of punishing the Seminole warriors and
destroying their villages, Jackson greatly exceeded his mandate by
capturing the cities of Pensacola and St. Marks and executing two
British nationals who he suspected of arming the Seminoles.
This incident, with its potential to become a diplomatic crisis for the
United States, split the Presidents Cabinet. Several members of the
Administration called on the President to censure Jackson in order to
avoid British and Spanish reprisal; only Adams rose to the Generals
defense. He prevailed upon the President to provide post hoc sanction
of Jacksons actions in Florida. Adams argued that everything he
[Jackson] did was defensive; that as such it was neither war against
Spain nor violation of the Constitution (Remini, p. 55). Monroe sided
with Adams, and he gave his Secretary of State the mandate to set in
motion a brilliant series of diplomatic maneuvers that signaled the
beginning of American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere.
The settlement that Adams engineered with the Adams-Onis Treaty of
1821 was a landmark event that won for the United States more than
just title to Florida. Ever the visionary, Adams worked a general
settlement of disputes over the southern border with Mexico that,
combined with his earlier settlements with Great Britain over the
northern border with Canada, opened the way to western expansion
and established American claims on the Pacific coast.
Just as importantly, Adamss defense of Jacksons actions in Florida
established the intellectual argument for preemption. By giving the
Spanish the ultimatum to adequately garrison the territory or cede it
to the United States, Adams signaled, not just the willingness, but the
right of the United States to defend itself against imminent threats.
His belief in Americas divine mission to establish dominion over North
America (Manifest Destiny) would ultimately find its expression in the
Monroe Doctrine.
Adams diplomatic coup in Florida inspired Monroe to publicly embrace
his vision of American hegemony. In his annual message to Congress
on 2 December 1823, Monroe formally put the European powers on
notice that the United States (with the tacit approval of Great Britain)
would not condone attempts to revive their colonial authority in the
[t]he American continents, by the free and
independent condition which they have
assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to
be considered as subjects for future
colonization by any European powers.... We
owe it, therefore, to candor and to the
amicable relations existing between the United
States and those powers to declare that we
should consider any attempt on their part to
extend their system to any portion of this
hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and
safety. (Monroe, 1823)
Thus, the so-called Monroe Doctrine became the unifying theme of
John Quincy Adamss grand strategic vision for American security:
Preemptive military action, in the face of emerging threats;
unilateralism, expressed by American neutrality and isolationism; and
hegemony, initially over North America but eventually extending over
the entire western hemisphere, as American power allowed.
Like all successful grand strategies, the strategy that Adams crafted in
the early Nineteenth Century was neither codified in a document nor
publicly debated as such. It was, however, popularly understood by
most Americans and expressed in common references to the issues of
the day, such as 54-40 or fight over Alaska; the battle cry of
remember the Alamo during the war with Mexico, Horace Greeleys
challenge to go west young man and complete the American
settlement of the continent. These phrases, along with Manifest
Destiny, Remember the Maine, and others, reflect a national
consensus over Americas role and mission in the world. In fact,
Adamss grand strategic vision was so successful that it served twenty-
seven presidential administrations (excluding the first two terms of
FDR) and prevailed as the philosophical underpinning for American
national security for nearly a century and a half.
WW I and Wilsonian Democracy
At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the United States stood
unchallenged as the preeminent power in the Western Hemisphere.
The annexation of Cuba and the Philippine Islands at the end of the
Spanish American War, coupled with the development of a two-ocean
navy enabled by the Panama Canal, solidified her status as an
emerging world power and master of the Americas. Despite her
growing international stature (it was Theodore Roosevelt, after all,
who received the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the
Russo-Japanese War) American policy makers were determined to
protect Americas neutrality.
To characterize Americas entry into the First World War as reluctant is
an understatement. From the very outset of the war, President Wilson
went to great lengths to keep America out of the fight. In a message
to the 63
Congress, dated 19 August 1914, barely three weeks after
the war began, Wilson declared Americas neutrality, in fact, as well
as in name (Wilson, 1914). Even the German sinking of the Lusitania
in 1915 did not break American neutrality. In fact, Wilsons Secretary
of State, William Jennings Bryan, resigned in protest over Wilsons
harsh rebuke of the Germans over the incident.
While he would go on to win reelection in 1916 under the slogan he
kept us out of the war, Wilson could not keep America on the
sidelines indefinitely. Ironically, it would take a German diplomatic
initiative to ally herself with Mexico, against the United States, to push
America into the war. Even as America joined the Allies to defeat the
Germans in 1917, she balked at the prospect of full partnership in the
Grand Alliance, preferring instead to retain a vestige of unilateralism
as an associate member.
It is clear that Americas entry into World War One represented a
detour, rather than a departure, from Americas grand strategy of
neutrality, unilateralism, preemption and hegemony over the Western
Hemisphere. It is interesting to note the conversion that Wilson
appears to have undergone during the war: He stood for reelection on
a platform of neutrality, yet in his Fourteen Points speech to Congress,
he proposed a general association of nationsaffording mutual
guarantees (Wilson, 1918). Later in the speech, Wilson revealed his
newfound internationalist sentiments when he explained, we fell
ourselves to be intimate partners of all governments and peoples
associated together against the Imperialists. We cannot be separated
in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end
(Wilson, 1918). Unfortunately for Wilson, the Congress did not share
his new world view. Unwilling to involve the United States in future
European wars, the Congress failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles
and America returned to her pre-war grand strategy and pursued
disarmament with reckless abandon.
WWII and the Rise of Multilateralism
In 1945 America was on the verge of being overwhelmed by her own
success. With the emergence of the United States as a global
Superpower after the Second World War, American statesmen faced
an entirely new set of challenges. What could or should the United
States do to rebuild Europe, and what would become of her former
colonies? Would the alliance with the Soviet Union remain intact, or
would pre-war tensions prevail? What impact would atomic weapons
and long-range aircraft have on American national security? These
issues reflected a new, post-war reality, forcing American policy
makers to devise a new grand strategy that reflected Americas
expanding range of interests and concerns.
In the age of the atom, American diplomats reasoned, the United
States could no longer depend on natures gift of three vast bodies of
water to provide the free security to which Americans had grown
accustomed (Gaddis, p.8). Most American statesmen, in the late
1940s, believed that Americas atomic monopoly would not last
forever, and with advances in technology coming at an unprecedented
rate, the United States could no longer afford to follow Adamss model
of neutrality, preemption and unilateralism. Engagement in the world
through multilateral cooperation, they reasoned, was the surest was to
secure Americas future in a smaller, more dangerous world.
While Roosevelt rejected Adamss neutrality, he embraced even
expanded Adamss hegemonic design as the second tier of his vision
of Americas post-war grand strategy. Roosevelt envisioned a global
America, engaged in the world and shaping events. He understood, as
did many of our allies, that America must remain engaged if Europe
and the United States were to have any chance at a free and
prosperous future. Roosevelt also understood that America would
emerge from the war stronger and in a better position to lead, and the
allies knew that they would need a strong America to help them
rebuild and secure the post-war world. Roosevelts vision of post war
America, therefore, was of globally hegemonic America, leading the
world in a consensual arrangement (Gaddis, p.54).
The final tier of Roosevelts new American grand strategy was his
rejection of unilateralism. Roosevelt understood that, as with
democracy, the cost of multilateralism is consent. While the Soviet
Union might use force to keep its allies in line, the United States
would not. From a moral perspective, the United States was unwilling
to use force to compel other free nations to accept her authority. As
the worlds great liberal democracy, American values simply would not
allow the kind of heavy-handedness that Stalin would employ. The
philosophy of Americas intellectual founding fathers men like Locke,
Rousseau, and Jefferson still resonated with Americans in 1945.
America could not (and would not) maintain a standing army of the
size necessary to dominate Western Europe by force. Since
demobilization was inevitable, American would have to rely on the rule
of law and the consent of free nations to keep the peace. Thus the
term free world would come into vogue.
The seeds of Americas new global security strategy were sewn on 14
August 1941 by Roosevelt and Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales.
The men who headed the Anglo-American Alliance proposed a set of
principles for international collaboration in maintaining peace and
security called the Atlantic Charter. Their meeting, the first in a series
of conferences which later included Stalin in Moscow, Teheran and
Yalta, would lead to the formation of the United Nations on 26 April
In retrospect, it seems almost inevitable that Roosevelts new grand
strategy would lead to the Cold War.
Stalin had made it clear, by the time of FDRs
death in April of 1945, that he would not
accept multilateralism: that he planned to
impose a unilaterally controlled sphere of
influence in eastern and central Europe, as he
himself once put it, as far as his armies could
reach (Gaddis, p. 55).
Stalin, himself a visionary, albeit a dark one, could see the growing
power and influence of the United States; he was determined that the
Soviet Union would emerge from the war as the dominant power in
Certainly it was clear to American and British military and diplomatic
leaders that the wartime alliance between the Grand Alliance between
the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union was beginning to
unravel as early as 1945. Several American and British wartime
leaders, to include Churchill himself, argued for an Allied push to take
Berlin, despite an agreement with Stalin that the Red Army would take
the German capitol. To his credit, Roosevelt, ever the pragmatist, held
firm to his commitment to the Soviets. What tends to get lost in the
discussion over this point is that, by 1945, the Soviets had the largest,
most powerful army in the world. With interior lines and a battle-
hardened population, they clearly had the advantage over the west.
Moreover, western leaders had spent the past several years
rehabilitating Stalins image as Uncle Joe. How could they now
explain that our Russian friends, who were allies in our fight against
fascism, were now the enemy?
Herein lies an example of the brilliance of Roosevelt as a grand
strategist. Despite enormous political pressure to press the military
advantage against the Soviets in the closing days of the war,
Roosevelt understood that the United States was in a unique position
at the end of the warstronger, richer and more respected than any
nation on earth. What advantage could be gained by protracting the
conflict and wasting lives and treasure in direct combat against the
Red Army? Roosevelts refusal to take Berlin was, in my view, the
single greatest grand strategic maneuver of his presidency.
Shortly after the war, however, Stalins blatant power grabs began to
alarm western leaders. At Yalta, the United States and the Soviet
Union had presumably reached an understanding on how the power
vacuum in Eastern Europe was to be filled. Roosevelt felt he had
received Stalins agreement to free elections in which all democratic
parties could participate. The systematic exclusion of pro-Western
parties from the electoral process in Poland and throughout Eastern
Europe struck many in the West as a doublecross (Hastedt: 48). The
failure to allow elections, coupled with a series of aggressive Soviet
moves pressure on Turkey over naval bases and access to the
Mediterranean Sea, combined with Stalins refusal to remove Red
Army troops from Iran in accordance with the schedule agreed to at
the Tehran Conference, and Soviet support of the communist
insurgents in the Greek Civil War pushed Truman to adopt a more
aggressive stance toward the Soviet Union.
George Kennans famous cable where he warned that the Soviets were
committed fanatically to the belief that there can be no permanent
modus vivendithat our traditional way of life must be destroyed, the
international authority of our state be broken if Soviet power is to be
secure sent shock waves through the American government. In one
of the most inspired periods in the history of American foreign policy,
Truman saw Kennans later call for containment as an opportunity for
America to halt the Soviet expansion at a cost that America could
In these circumstances it is clear that the main
element of any United States policy toward the
Soviet Union must be that of a long-term,
patient but firm and vigilant containment of
Russian expansive tendencies it will be
clearly seen that the Soviet pressure against
free institutions of the Western world is
something that can be contained by the adroit
and vigilant application of counterforce at a
series of constantly shifting geographical and
political points, corresponding to the shifts and
maneuvers of Soviet policy. (Kennan, 1947)
Truman outlined his policy, the so-called Truman Doctrine, on March
12, 1947, in a speech before a Joint session of Congress requesting
funding and material support of the Greek and Turkish governments:
We shall not realize our objectives, however,
unless we are willing to help free peoples to
maintain their free institutions and their
national integrity against aggressive
movements that seek to impose upon them
totalitarian regimes. This is no more than a
frank recognition that totalitarian regimes
imposed upon free peoples, by direct or
indirect aggression, undermine the foundations
of international peace and hence the security
of the United StatesI believe it must be the
policy of the United States to support free
peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or outside
pressures. (Truman, 1947)
In the face of a growing Soviet threat, Truman was able to adapt
Roosevelts grand strategy of multilateralism to suit Americas post-
war national security needs. In fact, the very existence of the Soviet
threat to Western Europe gave multilateralism its power, for when
forced to choose between American hegemony and Soviet domination,
most western leaders quite reasonably lined up behind the Americans.
The National Security Bureaucracy
Another important foreign policy achievement of the Truman
Administration was the creation of the Americas modern national
security apparatus. During the war, American diplomats, military
leaders and members of Congress began to realize that the
responsibilities of 20
Century foreign and military policymaking were
becoming too complex for one man alone. The United States, with its
legal and cultural checks and balances designed to thwart the designs
of would-be tyrants, excels at crisis management, but is rather inept
at deliberate planning. By 1945, however, it was generally recognized
that the competitive chaos of FDRs approach to foreign affairs was ill
suited to the responsibilities of a first-rate world power (Inderfurth &
Johnson, p.2).
In an attempt to bring order and cohesion to the process of crafting
and implementing Americas grand strategy, Congress passed the
National Security Act of 1947. The Act established the National
Security Council as an advisory body to the President with respect to
the integration of domestic, foreign and military policies relating to the
national security so as to enable the military services and the other
departments and agencies of the Government to cooperate more
effectively in maters involving the national security (NSA of 1947).
Over the course of its fifty-eight year history, presidents have used the
NSC to help shape American foreign policy in different ways each
with a different view as to the role of the NSC as an advisory body:
From the highly institutionalized and procedural models under Truman
and Eisenhower, to the personal, ad hoc approach under Kennedy and
Johnson, and in the extreme case under President Regan, to the point
where the NSC staff ceased to function as either a policy-making or
policy-coordinating body (Hastedt, p.121). Certainly, the NSC has
adapted to meet the unique needs of each of the eleven
administrations which it has served, yet its essential responsibility
remains to advise the President and to coordinate policy between the
departments of State, Defense and other governmental agencies as
The NSCs track record of helping the President shape and implement
Americas grand strategy is mixed. On one hand, the National Security
Act of 1947 established a permanent forum for dialogue between the
Americas military and diplomatic communities; on the other hand, it
has institutionalized departmental parochialism that is often reflected
in a process that appears to value consensus above all else. Policy by
consensus, while certainly concordant with our democratic values,
does not always produce the most effective policy. According to
former Carter Administration National Security Advisor, Zbigniew
In the making of national security policy, we
have, in effect, a chaotic nonsystem. And that
nonsystem, I think, reflects some of the
persistent institutional problems that have
eluded solution in recent yearsIn searching
for a remedy to the problem in all its aspects,
we must recognize that the elimination of
conflict is an idle dream. Conflict is bound to
exist whenever a number of individuals are
engaged in a decision-making process,
whenever a number of institutions project
different institutional perspectives. So some
conflict is unavoidable and is bound to be with
us, enlivening and, one hopes, enlightening
our lives. (Brzezinski, p. 328)
While imperfect, the National Security Council does provide a forum for
studying issues and presenting expert advice to assist the President in
formulating, integrating and executing Americas grand strategy for
national security.
American Grand Strategy After 9/11
From enthusiasm to imposture the step is perilous and
slippery; the demon Socrates affords a memorable instance
how a wise man may deceive himself, how a good man may
deceive others, how the conscience may slumber in a mixed
and middle state between self-illusion and fraud -- Edward Gibbon
from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11
, 2001,
American foreign policy makers experienced what can only be
described as a collective cognitive dissonance. As the death toll from
the attacks continued to rise, it became clear to many that the old
paradigm had been broken. If, as Thomas Kuhn asserts, [p]aradigms
gain their status because they are more successful than their
competitors in solving a few problems that the group of practitioners
has come to recognize as acute (Kuhn, p. 23), one can imagine that
the emotion that the members of the Bush cabinet experienced on that
day was not unlike that which their predecessors experienced in the
Madison or Roosevelt administrations in 1814 and 1941.
Former National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, expressed this
sentiment in a speech at the Reagan Presidential Library on 26
February 2004:
The attacks of September 11
, 2001, were the
greatest strategic shock that the United States
has experienced since Pearl Harbor. These
attacks crystallized our vulnerability to plots
hatched in different lands, that come without
warning, bringing tragedy to our shores. These
attacks made clear that sweeping threats
under the rug is simply not an option.
President Bush saw the implications of that
immediately. The very day of the attacksas
smoke still rose from the Pentagon, and the
rubble of the Twin Towers, and that field in
Pennsylvaniahe told us, his advisors, that the
United States faced a new kind of war and the
strategy of our government would be to take
the fight to the terrorists. (Rice, 2004)
It is clear that the attacks of September 11
had a profound and
immediate impact on the President and his advisors. The level of
carnage and destruction wrought by a shadowy and relatively
unsophisticated enemy exposed the nations vulnerability and the
failure of an outdated grand strategy.
In September of 2002, President Bush unveiled his post-September
grand strategy for the United States. Bushs new grand strategy
is, in reality, an extraordinary amalgam of earlier principles expressed
by John Quincy Adams in the early Nineteenth Century and Woodrow
Wilson in the early Twentieth. According to the Bush Doctrine,
America will defeat gathering threats through preemptive actions,
undertaken unilaterally when necessary, while expanding her sphere of
influence (hegemony) by promoting global economic interdependence
and democratic reform.
Preemption Vs- Prevention
Few Americans would argue that any President has the right, perhaps
even a sworn duty, to take preemptive military action defend the
people of the United States against an eminent threat. Even Senator
Ted Kennedy, one of President Bushs harshest critics, conceded this
point in a statement on the so-called Bush Doctrine of Preemption
when he declared that no nation should have to suffer a certain first
strike before it has the legitimacy to respond (Kennedy, 2002).
Indeed, in his National Security Strategy, the President clearly
articulates his rationale for resuscitating the doctrine of preemption:
The United States has long maintained the
option of preemptive actions to counter a
sufficient threat to our national security. The
greater the threat, the greater the risk of
inactionand the more compelling the case for
taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves,
even if uncertainty remains as to the time and
place of the enemys attack. To forestall or
prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries,
the United States will, if necessary, act
preemptively. (Bush, 2002)
The argument against the Presidents interpretation of preemptive
military action involves making the distinction between preemptive
war and preventative war. According to Senator Kennedy, the
Presidents strategy is illegitimate because it not preemptive but,
rather, preventative. In other words, the Presidents strategy would
employ strikes that target a country before (emphasis added) it has
developed a capability that could someday become threatening
(Kennedy, 2002). Kennedy argues that this approach has been
rejected in the past because is violates,basic international rules
against aggression (Kennedy, 2002).
In a 2004 speech in Roswell, New Mexico, the President alluded to this
distinction as he addressed the new realities of the Post-September
And then we got hit by the enemy. And make
no mistake about it, the enemy attack affected
America. It affected the way I think about
foreign policy because we can no longer take
gathering (emphasis added) threats for
granted. If we see a threat gathering overseas,
the lesson of September 11
says, we must
pay attention to it. We just cantand if it gets
so bad, weve got to do something about it. We
cannot assume that oceans protect us
anymore. It affected our psychology in
America. (Bush, 2005)
Here, the President acknowledges the changed nature of international
affairs: The rise of the non-state actor and, consequently, the
diminishing effect of deterrence as a safeguard against attack. Bushs
reinterpretation of the doctrine of preemption is important because it
reveals the unhappy truth that the new world order envisioned by his
father after the fall of the Soviet Union, is neither new, nor particularly
orderly. The convergence of ancient, irrational hatreds with 21
century technologies, minus the constraining influence of the Cold
War, forces us to rethink our 19
Century rules of civil international
behavior vis--vis emerging threats.
Unilateralism with a Twist
On July 4
, 1821, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, speaking
from the rostrum of the House of Representatives, declared that the
United States would always be the well-wisher to the freedom and
independence of all nations but that it must not go abroad in search
of monsters to destroy by enlisting under banners other than our
own (Remini, p. 58). Later that year, while debating within the
Monroe cabinet whether to accept a proposal by the British to form an
alliance in the Americas against the Holy Alliance of Russia and France,
Adams urged the President to reject the offer on the grounds that, [i]t
would be more candid, as well as more dignified, to avow our
principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-
boat in the wake of the British man-of-war (Remini, p. 60). It is not
too surprising that Adamss argument prevailed. After all, he stood
firmly on the principle that Washington had articulated with his
warning against entangling alliances. Adams feared, rightly so, that
the United States would be seduced by the power of the British Navy
into a war that belonged to the people of Europe.
Ironically, after September 11
, the Bush Administration concluded
that America must again be willing to act unilaterally in the defense of
the nation not, however, to avoid being dragged into someone elses
war, but rather, to prevent others from curtailing our own freedom of
action. The President has argued that America still values her multi-
lateral arrangements, and that while the United States will constantly
strive to enlist the support of the international community, we will not
hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defense
by acting preemptively (NSS, p.6). More to the point, the President
states that, [i]n exercising our leadership, we will respect the values,
judgment, and interests of our friends and partners. Still, we will be
prepared to act apart when our interests and unique responsibilities
require (NSS, p. 31).
The Presidents most telling comments on Americas return to
unilateralism came during the Roswell Speech when he declared that,
[t]here is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of
nations and shutting down efforts because a few object. Its a big
difference. Its the difference between being willing to gather a group
of like-minded nations and lead the world toward freedom and peace,
or allowing some to object and, therefore, nothing happens. Thats not
the way this administration functions. As I said the other night, we will
never seek a permission slip to defend the American people (Bush,
Since the end of the Second World War, generations of Americans and
Europeans have lived under the protection of international
organizations and multilateral defense agreements, with their
meticulous attention to legal justifications and consensus agreement in
support of military action. Today, most citizens have never known any
other arrangement. Bushs twist on unilateralism reflects Americas
unique role in world affairs and the Presidents determination to
restore some measure of Americas freedom of action. By
acknowledging the need to enlist the support of the international
community, however, it appears as if the President is attempting to
loosen, rather than break, the velvet ropes of cooperative security.
Global Economic Interdependence (Free Markets + Free Trade
= Democracy)
While much of the focus in the discussions over Americas new grand
strategy has been on the Presidents prescription for the use of military
force and the relative merits of, and justifications for, preemption and
unilateralism, in my view, the most radical aspect of the Presidents
grand strategy involves his vision for the use of so-called soft power.
The President reveals his philosophical approach to foreign policy in
the opening line of the National Security Strategy: The great struggle
of the twentieth century between liberty and totalitarianism ended with
a decisive victory for the forces of freedomand a single sustainable
model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise.
This political philosophy is grounded on an intriguing syllogism: Open,
vibrant, free- market, capitalist economies provide the fuel for the
engine of democracy, and affluent, liberal democracies do not make
war upon each other. In other words, economic well being leads to
political liberalization and respect for the rule of law.
Granting, for the sake of argument, that democratic governments,
indeed, do not make war upon each other, what are we to make of the
assertion that economic prosperity, enabled by a free market,
capitalist economy, drives democratic reform. According to the
[a] strong world economy enhances our
national security by advancing prosperity and
freedom in the rest of the world. Economic
growth supported by free trade and free
markets creates new jobs and higher incomes.
It allows people to lift their lives out of
poverty, spurs economic and legal reform, and
the fight against corruption, and it reinforces
the habits of liberty. (NSS, p17)
The President seems to be betting the farm on the belief that economic
freedom inevitably leads to political freedom. One could argue that
Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan provide excellent
examples of robust, capitalist economies that did not embrace peaceful
democratic reform.
And what are we to make of Russia and China? Certainly, the demise
the Soviet Union and the opening of China to western investment
present tremendous potential for future development and economic
growth. Yet, here again, the President appears to be ignoring the
harsh reality of history when he asserts that, [w]e are also
increasingly united by common values. Russia is in the midst of a
hopeful transition, reaching for its democratic future and a partner in
the war on terror. Chinese leaders are discovering that economic
freedom is the only source of national wealth. In time, they will find
that social and political freedom is the only source of national
greatness To which set of common values is the President referring?
Russia has experienced a significant backslide in democratic reform
under Vladimir Putin, as he has presided over the systematic
dismantling of Russias nascent democratic institutions. Under Putins
rule, Russia has experienced renewed suppression of free speech,
intimidation of the free press, and gerrymandering of local
governmentsactions not seen on this scale since the Soviet era.
Russian foreign affairs rhetoric has, likewise, taken a turn for the
worse. In a recent radio interview, Putin defended the Soviet-Nazi
pact of 1939, which divided Poland and placed the Baltic States under
Soviet domination, as a legitimate exercise of Russias prerogative to
defend her western borders. Putin has also recently described the
collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geo-political catastrophe
of the 20
Century. I am sure there are millions of Eastern Europeans
who would agree that this is hardly the rhetoric of a man who shares a
set of common values with the United States.
Chinas recent record of democratic reform is equally as bleak.
According to the Department of States 2004 country report on human
rights, Chinas human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses
(DOS, 2005). Despite increased American economic and political
engagement, China continues to conduct open and deliberate
programs of repression against peaceful groups like the Falun Gong,
Uighur separatists, and independent Muslim religious leaders. China, it
seems, is as committed as ever to maintaining her one-party rule
indefinitely. Simply put, there is nothing in the history of either Russia
or China to suggest that either nation will embrace democracy anytime
Finally, the push for economic interdependence will, inevitably, force
American policy makers to use Americas military might in support of
foreign economic interests. The war in Iraq is certainly the result of
Americas dependence on a robust global economy and the need for a
secure global oil market. In this 21
century global economy, where
business is truly multinational and economic uncertainty has a ripple
effect that extends across national boundaries, the United States
cannot allow instability to affect the economies of nations or regions
that comprise our largest trading partners. The President makes this
point himself in the National Security Strategy: A return to strong
economic growth in Europe and Japan is vital to U.S. national security
interests. We want our allies to have strong economies for their own
sake, for the sake of the global economy, and for the sake of global
security (NSS, p.18).
Making the World Safe for Democracy
There is, in my view, a dangerous strain of idealism that runs through
President Bushs grand strategy at the beginning of this century which
is eerily reminiscent of Woodrow Wilson, at the beginning of the last.
In the opening of The National Security Strategy of the United States
of America, the President boldly proclaims that [t]he aim of this
strategy is to help make the world not just safer but better (NSS,
p.1). Later, the President goes on to state that, the United States
must defend liberty and justice because these principles are right and
true for all people everywhere (NSS, p.3) The reader can almost hear
the echoes of Woodrow Wilson:
There is one thing that the American people
always rise to and extend their hand to, and
that is the truth of justice and liberty and of
peace. We have accepted that truth, and we
are going to be led by it, and it is going to lead
us, and through us, the world, out into
pastures of quietness and peace such as the
world never dreamed of before (Wilson, 1919).
One must ask whether it is the proper and legitimate role of the United
States to make the world not just safer but better. The President
asserts that the United States has a responsibility to lead in this great
mission (Bush, 2002). I suspect Woodrow Wilson recognized this
same responsibility when he declared during his first presidential
campaign that America is chosen by divine destiny to show the way to
the nations of the world how they shall walk in the paths of liberty
(Wilson, 1912).
There is no doubt in my mind that President Bush has a clear vision for
America in the 21
Century. He has surrounded himself with a cadre
of exceptionally gifted men and women who have helped him craft a
remarkable grand strategyone that addresses the significant
challenges posed by a globally linked, technologically enabled,
transnational threat, while remaining grounded in the uniquely
American values of our Founding Fathers. It is also clear that the
President regards the events of September 11
as a wake up call to
the west that the rules for the use of national power must change if we
are to successfully defend the ideals of an enlightened, liberal
democracy in this new age.
What is not clear, however, is whether American national interests will
take a back seat to American idealism. Nearly everyone, I suppose,
can agree that economic development, individual liberty and
democracy are good. Like puppies, apple pie and baseball, these
concepts are nearly universal in their appeal. The challenge for
policymakers is to avoid mirror imaging; in other words, projecting
our own values on the rest of the world.
In the coming decades, American policymakers will put the Capitalism-
Democracy-Peace syllogism to the test; we must be careful not to be
blinded by our own logic:
Western policymakers, according to their public
statements, believe that ethnic and religious
unrest is caused by political oppression, even
though it is political freedom itself that has
often unleashed the violence that liberal
societies abhor. There is nothing more volatile
and more in need of disciplined, enlightened
direction than vast populations of underpaid,
underemployed, and badly educated workers
divided by ethnicity and beliefs. (Kaplan, p.6)
Somewhere between theory and practice, American policymakers
seem to have allowed their idealism to cloud their judgment. For when
viewed in an historical context, Americas current grand strategy looks
like a non-sequitur: Like the Romans, America has deployed Legions
around the world, yet our European allies or client states are
unwilling to aggressively defend the frontier because they no longer
feel threatened by the barbarians. And like the great Mongol leader,
Genghis Kahn, President Bush seeks to enhance Americas influence
and economic well-being through an interconnected system of global
trade, but the trade routes of the 21
Century do not necessarily cross
through America, and no one is required to pay tribute to avoid
reprisal. Finally, like the British after Trafalgar, President Bush seeks to
build alliances and achieve a global balance of power (one that
naturally favors American interests), only he cant seem to convince
our European partners that such a balance is in their interest.
In the final analysis, the American people will judge the validity of
President Bushs grand strategy, not by how many elections are held in
the Middle East, but rather, by the physical, political and economic
well-being of the United States at the end of the 21
Applebaum, A. Opting for Triumph Over Truth in Russia. The Virginian-Pilot,
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Related Interests
Grand Strategy
Genghis Khan
Ancient Rome
Carl Von Clausewitz
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