Grand Strategy from Truman to Trump

Benjamin Miller is full professor of international relations at the University of Haifa, Israel.

“Miller and Rubinovitz take US grand strategy seriously and offer in this landmark study an original, provocative, and engaging explanation for how and why it has evolved over the last seventy-five years.”

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsBenjamin MillerIntroduction The Puzzle and the Argument1 Between Offensive Liberalism and Defensive Realism—Four Approaches to Grand Strategy2 Explaining Changes in Grand Strategy3 The Road to Offensive Realism: The Evolution of US Grand Strategy in the Early Cold War, 1945–504 From Preponderance to Détente after the Cuban Missile Crisis5 From Détente to the “Second Cold War”: From Kennedy to Carter6 Reagan’s Turn to the Second Détente7 Making the World in Its Own Image: The Post–Cold War Grand Strategy8 The Post-9/11 Period: The Emergence of Offensive Liberalism9 Obama: From Defensive Liberalism to Defensive Realism—Systemic Changes Lead to the End of the Liberalization Project10 America First: The Trump Grand Strategy in a Comparative Perspective11 The Past, Present, and Future of American Grand Strategy: Some Final Observations Appendix 1: Indicators of Grand Strategy ChangeAppendix 2: Summary of Major Changes in US Grand Strategy and Their ExplanationAppendix 3: Competing US Approaches to Grand Strategy in the Age of TrumpNotesIndex