Offshore Balancing

Theory of international relations that views multipolarity as an opportunity rather than a threat. Proponents of offshore balancing believe that attempts to maintain [Page 549]U.S. hegemony as the world's only superpower will lead other states to unite against the United States and ultimately reduce its relative power. Because the United States cannot stop the rise of new great powers, it should aim toward a strategy of burden shifting, whereby others will take over responsibility for maintaining regional power balances and quelling problems.

To encourage cooperation in a multipolar world, the great powers would delineate spheres of influence and pledge noninterference in those regions. By pushing for burden shifting and spheres of influence, proponents of offshore balancing hope to dampen the backlash against U.S. hegemony, especially after the launch of the war on terrorism and the Iraq War of 2003. Two leading theorists of offshore balancing are Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz, who supported the idea in a 2002 article in Atlantic Monthly titled “A New Grand Strategy.” The authors stated that “Although jockeying for advantage is a fact of life for great powers, coexistence, and even cooperation between and among them, is not unusual. Offshore balancing seeks to promote America's relative power and security, but it also aims to maximize the opportunity for the United States to be on decent terms with the other great powers.”