Shifrinson Gives Talk at Notre Dame on American Alliances
Joshua Shifrinson, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, gave a November 6, 2018 talk at the Notre Dame International Security Center.
Shifrinson delivered a talk entitled “The Insular Advantage: Geography and the Durability of American Alliances.” Read the abstract of the paper the talk was based on below:
President Donald Trump has not been shy about playing hard-ball with close allies. This has led to concerns that Trump poses a unique threat to American alliances. Theoretically, these concerns are consistent with an influential line of argument that points to strategic restraint and reassurance – via binding institutions – as what sets American alliances apart. The fact of the matter is that Trump is not the first American president to play hard-ball with close allies, which leads to a two-part puzzle: What explains the United States’ track record of alliance coercion? And how has its alliance network remained so robust, given this track record? Our argument centers on geography, specifically the fact that the United States is the insular power par excellence. Insularity, we argue, affords the United States two strategic advantages. First, it is free to roam. Second, it is an attractive security provider for states in geopolitically crowded neighborhoods. Together, these advantages account for the United States’ track record of alliance coercion, as well as the limited damage that has been done to core alliances in the process. We demonstrate the value-added of our argument with a case study from the early Cold War, during NATO’s formative period.
Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson’s teaching and research interests focus on the intersection of international security and diplomatic history, particularly the rise and fall of great powers and the origins of grand strategy. He has special expertise in great power politics since 1945 and U.S. engagement in Europe and Asia. Shifrinson’s first book, Rising Titans, Falling Giants: How Great Powers Exploit Power Shifts (Cornell University Press, 2018) builds on extensive archival research focused on U.S. and Soviet foreign policy after 1945 to explain why some rising states challenge and prey upon declining great powers, while others seek to support and cooperate with declining states.