America's Pivot to the Pacific: Selective Primacy, Operational Access, and China's A2/AD Challenge

Authors

  • David S. McDonough University of British Columbia

Abstract

This paper assesses America's recent "pivot" or "rebalance" to the Asia-Pacific. It shows that Obama's pivot represents the beginnings of a strategic choice on "selective primacy" a grand strategy rooted in Washington's worrisome economic and fiscal situation and designed to shape America's global engagement at a time of fiscal austerity, in which primacy in one theatre will be achieved through greater selectivity of commitments elsewhere. As a result, the US military will increasingly prioritize the air and naval services within its force structure, which provides the broader context for more operational joint concepts like Air-Sea Battle. Lastly, while triggered by economic and fiscal exigencies, I will show that such a strategic shift is primarily directed at China's rise as a regional military power, with particular emphasis on its growing anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities. The paper concludes with some thoughts on the future direction of Sino-American strategic competition.

Author Biography

David S. McDonough, University of British Columbia

David S. McDonough is a SSHRC honorary post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia and a research fellow at Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies. He is a recipient of the SSHRC Canadian Graduate Scholarship (2006-9), the SDF Dr Ronald Baker Doctoral Scholarship (2009-10), and Killam Doctoral Scholarships (2008-11). He has published widely on international security in International Journal, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, RUSI Journal, Strategic Survey, On Track, Orbis, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Canadian Naval Review, Strategic Datalink, Third World Quarterly, and Comparative Strategy (forthcoming). He completed a monograph in the IISS Adelphi Paper series on Nuclear Superiority: The New Triad and the Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (2006), and is the editor of Canada's National Security in the Post-9/11 World: Strategy, Interests, and Threats (University of Toronto Press, 2012).

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Published

2013-08-13

Issue

No. 7 (2013): Occasional Paper No. 7 (2013):America’s Pivot to the Pacific: Selective Primacy, Operational Access, and China’s A2/AD Challenge

Section

Calgary Papers