Limits of Offshore Balancing.

摘要

The United States is likely to face crucial grand strategic decisions in the coming years. This being the case, it is essential to have a rigorous, well-informed debate not simply about the nation s current grand strategy and policies, but about the most salient grand strategic options and alternatives open to the United States as well. In this monograph, Professor Hal Brands contributes to that debate through a probing analysis of one particular grand strategic alternative that has become increasingly prominent in recent years the concept of offshore balancing. Offshore balancing entails a large-scale strategic retrenchment of America s current presence overseas, and it has often been touted by its supporters as a sort of grand strategic panacea an option that will allow the United States to improve its overall geopolitical position while simultaneously slashing the costs of its global posture. As Professor Brands argues, however, these claims are misleading. The sort of large-scale strategic retrenchment envisioned according to offshore balancing would bring geopolitical and financial benefits that would likely be modest at best; it would also court risks and dangers that would probably be quite significant. Offshore balancing may seem attractive at first glance, but upon closer inspection, Professor Brands writes, there is much reason to question its desirability as a grand strategy for the United States. The debate about America s current and future role in the world will undoubtedly continue in years to come, as analysts assess and argue about the merits and demerits of ideas like offshore balancing.