Offshore Balancing and Onshore Access, the place of coastal access in the American thalassocratic culture
Abstract
Dans la culture stratégique américaine, le balancement entre d’une part la domination du grand large et d’autre part la présence sur les rivages lointains constitue depuis ses origines le socle dual de la réflexion navale. L’ambivalence présente au cœur même de l’œuvre de Mahan, stratégiste maritime et naval le plus célèbre de l’histoire américaine en porte, entre autres, un témoignage significatif. Pour les États-Unis, l’Offshore balancing, objectif politique global dérivant de ce constat, reste donc inséparable d’un Onshore access sur les rivages de tous les continents. Mais la montée en puissance des stratégies de déni d’accès débouche sur le défi d’accès : opérer sur les littoraux de l’Île mondiale n’est plus une simple question logistique et diplomatique, mais bien une problématique opérative et stratégique de plus en plus incertaine.
About the Author
Antony Dabila is associate professor at University Toulouse-I-Capitole and researcher at the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies. His work is focusing on the transformations of the human environment formed by the combatants and how strategic thinking adapts to its evolution. He teaches strategy and defense policies at the Sciences Po Lyon and University Lyon-III-Jean Moulin
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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