Defense Strategy Course
Lesson 1, Writing Assessment

Essay Topic: Sharing Power? Prospects for a U.S. Concert-Balance Strategy

Date: 12 January 2015

Name: Angela Butts, LTC, USAR

Dr. Patrick Porter is an Australian academic at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. Dr. Porter published a monograph entailing a well reasoned argument on a power-sharing grand strategy based upon concert of power and balance of power systems. According Dr. Porter, these are the strategies that will cause the U.S. to no longer be hegemonic and maintain its powerful influence and status in the global system. I agree with Dr. Porter that the United States (U.S.) should employ these strategies in the future decades. However, I disagree that this is due to losing America’s global hegemony. The lost of hegemony would cause instability within the global system. In the future, I think the U.S. will move towards these strategies in order to produce stability while trying to maintain global leadership. Contrary, the focus could shift for the U.S. to build a “multi-partner” system for governments and nongovernment groups to work together on global issues. This is the goal of the Obama Administration in an effort to reduce competition and have closer ties to the major global powers.
There are limited options for other countries to take over as a global hegemon. Unlike other countries, India may be the closest to becoming the next hegemon of the global system; however, it is not ready based on its structural problems and military capabilities. With the rise of China, the structure of the world order could change in the next decade. The emergence of China as a world power has increased its profile in the international arena.1 The Chinese economy is not only linked to regional and world stability, but its relation to its military will determine whether or not the U.S. and China’s neighbors feel threatened. Sustained U.S. global leadership will depend on the extent to which it succeeds in converting local ambitions into synergy, while at the same time maintaining the checks and balances between the regional powers within other countries. Dr. Porter depicts the way of a coherent grand strategy in a multi-polar world.
Despite the economic crises and political dysfunctions, the U.S. should remain the world’s great power. Often, there is not much thought given to how alternative strategies could be designed and implemented. The future is unknown, and previous predictions of the U.S. decline have proven to be too early. However, there is a change in wealth and power across the countries in such that the U.S. may not be able to retain its position as a unipolar superpower.2 Due to this revolutionary shift in wealth and power, it is worth considering how the U.S. could design and adapt to the ever-changing environment. Dr. Porter pointed out several factors that would show such a shift would make sense: transnational issues requiring joint efforts, the military advantages of defenders, the unwillingness of states to engage in competition, and the decline of the U.S. hegemony.3 The U.S. should prepare itself to move into a multi-polar global system. Additionally, the U.S. should prepare itself to collaborate in the interest stability and national security with other great powers while being one of the major powers in the global system.4
In conclusion, the concert-balance strategy in a multi-polar international system represents the best option with respect to national security strategy and budget constraints for the U.S. Unlike a hegemonic and balance of power system, a concert of power system is multi-polar and based on a high level degree of mutual trust among global powers.5 In a balance of power system with several international great powers, each great power should capable of living up to their responsibilities in regards to the economic basis of military strength. Each great power should not be economically dependent on another great power or ally because a governmental or nongovernmental group could become tomorrow’s enemy in a balance of power system. The best way to secure world order and achieve American democracy is for the U.S. to maintain an unchallenged control of power in key regions and adopt a multi-polar or multi-partner world without bankrupting the economy.

Endnotes 1 Jonathan Holslag, “Embracing Chinese Global Security Ambitions”; available from http://www.vub.ac.be/biccs/site/assets/files/Jonathan%20misc/200907%20-%20TWQ.pdf; Internet; accessed 8 January 2015.

2 G. John Ikenberry, “America’s Challenge: The Rise of China and the Future of Liberal International Order”; available from http://newamerica.net/publications/policy
/america_s_challenge; Internet; accessed 8 January 2015.

3 Patrick Porter, “Sharing Power: Prospects for a U.S. Concert Balance Strategy” (Carlisle Barracks, PA: U.S. Army War College, 2013), 38.

4 Michael Lind, “A Concert-Balance Strategy for a Multipolar World”; available from http://newamerica.net/node/8731; Internet; accessed 8 January 2015. 5 Ibid.