Offshore Balancing and Onshore Access, the role of coastal access in thalassocratic American culture
Abstract
In American strategic culture, the balance between the domination of the open sea and the presence on distant shores constitutes since its origins the dual base of American naval thinking. The ambivalence at the heart of Mahan’s work, the most famous maritime and naval strategist in American history, bears a significant testimony of this two-fold dimension. For the United States, the strategy of offshore balancing therefore remains inseparable from a global onshore access. But the rise of maritime anti-access strategies leads to an access challenge: operating on the coasts of the World Island is no longer a simple logistical and diplomatic issue, but an increasingly uncertain operational and strategic quandary.
About the Author
Oliver Zajec is Professor in Political Science at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University. He is the director of the IESD.
The balance between domination of the open ocean on the one hand and presence on distant shores on the other has been the dual basis of American naval thinking since its origins.
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