New CFR Report Proposes an Alternate American Grand Strategy 

“The United States faces the most dangerous international circumstances since the end of World War II, and perhaps in its history. An ever more formidable, authoritarian China remains determined to replace the United States as the leading nation in Asia and eventually the world. The need for an effective U.S. grand strategy to deal with that threat, among others, is accordingly urgent,” argues a new report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), America Revived: A Grand Strategy of Resolute Global Leadership. 

The author of the report, Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill, CFR Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy, defines grand strategy, enumerates U.S. vital national interests, and summarizes the history of American grand strategy. He then outlines the conceptual pillars of five grand strategy schools—primacy, liberal internationalism, restraint, American nationalism, and Trumpism—and the best arguments for and against those strategies advanced by their proponents and critics.  

According to the report, the primacy school of grand strategy asserts that the United States must remain the world’s unrivaled superpower in every region and, toward that end, prevent the reemergence of a peer competitor. The liberal internationalist school envisions a U.S.-led, open, rules-based world order that champions the rule of law, liberal democracy, and human rights, and accepts using military force as a last resort to safeguard U.S. vital national interests.  

The restraint school, scarred by recent unsuccessful wars, seeks to slash American global presence and commitments and argues that U.S. military intervention is almost always ill-advised. The American nationalist school insists that the United States should concentrate its attention and strength on the Western Hemisphere, and that previous presidents have foolishly agreed to trade and security agreements that hollowed out the nation’s economy.  

Last, the report asserts that Trumpism, sometimes drawing on American nationalism, redefines U.S. vital national interests to emphasize that the liberal internationalist world order is irreparably broken because it is based on naïve assumptions—chief among them, the belief that international institutions, multilateral cooperation, and shared global norms can override raw power, national interests, and bilateral dealmaking. 

Amb. Blackwill contends that the United States should adopt a new grand strategy: resolute global leadership. Like primacy, it affirms the importance of increased defense spending and American military might, especially potent instruments for deterrence and force projection, to parry varied threats and defend the United States and its allies as far forward as possible. Like liberal internationalism, resolute global leadership emphasizes the requirement to underwrite international institutions, both to increase U.S. and worldwide prosperity and to create an international environment conducive to U.S. national interests. 

Resolute global leadership is “the best grand strategy to sustain prosperity, enhance security, and cement the legitimacy of the United States as a powerful force in the international system,” the report argues. 

“Ambassador Blackwill presents a revised American grand strategy to help manage the contemporary challenges the United States now faces,” said CFR President Michael Froman. “His timely report can help policymakers navigate the United States’ role at home and abroad during this dynamic era.” 

To read the full report, visit www.cfr.org/reports/america-revived.  

To request an interview with Amb. Blackwill, please email the Global Communications team at [email protected].