American Hard Power Pivot to the Indo-Pacific: Military Analysis of Hard Power Alignment

Details

Supervisors

Struye de Swielande, Tanguy

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences politiques, orientation relations internationales, à finalité spécialisée: diplomatie et résolution des conflits

Abstract

This paper's premise begins with China's gradual deviance from the international system following the 2008 financial crisis and the United States’ involvement in the Middle East. Challenging the liberal world order and the US as the hegemon, China employs geopolitical and geoeconomic tools to move towards a zero-sum great powers competition. As part of its hegemonic adjustment strategy, the United States responded with incremental foreign policies vis-à-vis China, culminating in integrated deterrence under the Biden administration. The operationalization of integrated deterrence is translated into restructuring the US Marine Corps and the US Army – for the specific purposes of solving a complex military dilemma as presented by the Chinese Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2AD) strategy. The restructuring of the US military forces and equipment and the creation of new advisory units known as the Security Forces Assistance Brigades set the conditions for the United States to pivot its hard power focus onto the Indo-Pacific.