Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 06/2011

Resurrecting Retrenchment: The Grand Strategic Consequences of U.S. Decline

Paul MacDonald, Joseph M. Parent

May 2011

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

Abstract

Many policymakers and pundits contend that U.S. relative power is declining and that this decline will have negative consequences for international politics. They justify this pessimism on the belief that great powers have few options for dealing with acute relative decline. Critics say that retrenchment, a policy of retracting grand strategic commitments in response to a decline in relative power, is a contemptible policy that demoralizes allies and emboldens potential adversaries. Furthermore, domestic interest groups and lobbies look like immovable obstacles with regard to policies designed to harmonize ends with means.