American Grand Strategy: The End of Primacy?

A review of current American strategic guidance and foreign policy choices reveals two conflicting grand strategies of retrenchment and primacy. Although President Obama s administration acknowledges a shift in the international order, U.S. strategic guidance clings to an outdated strategy of primacy while simultaneously pursuing retrenchment. There is no cohesive synchronization of the two strategies. Examined through the examples of Iraq and China, it is clear that when put into action, the grand strategy fails and actually undermines America s strategic efforts. The United States has a unique opportunity in the next two years to reevaluate our grand strategy and move toward a more appropriate strategy for a multipolar global environment.