Description
This panel examines the development and implementation of US grand strategy, focusing in particular on its domestic sources and implementation across multiple regions. First, Peter Harris and Macy Palbaum examine the influence of domestic constraints on strategic adjustment, highlighting the challenges faced by recent administrations in bringing about a "pivot" to Asia. Andrew Payne then explores the other side of this coin, exploring how domestic political considerations have made it difficult for successive administrations to do less in the Middle East. Tom Furse drills further into the domestic sources of grand strategy, tracing the ways in which intellectual, organisational and doctrinal factors have shaped the ability of the United States to fight wars in Central Europe and the Middle East. Finally, Julia Carver places things in a comparative context, assessing US efforts to build cyber capacity in Africa as a means of gaining strategic advance in the global digital network, specifically in the context of Chinese and European efforts in this area. Taken together, these papers shed light on critical debates in the study of US grand strategy, including the issue of change and continuity, the identification of under-appreciated sources of and constraints on grand strategy, and variation across regional contexts.
