American grand strategy—defined here as “the alignment of national ends, ways, and means”¹—is once again the subject of intense debate among policymakers, politicians, academics, and analysts. While the debate, like grand strategy itself, spans the range of national priorities and challenges, there are particularly sharp disagreements over the role of the United States in the international system.² Most of the discussion focuses on the appropriate scope of American military presence overseas, with opinion ranging from those who call for an expansion of forward military presence (particularly, but not solely, in East Asia) to those who argue that the...