The Geopolitics of U.S. Overseas Troops and Withdrawal

The book "Why It's Hard for Great Powers to Retrench Their Overseas Military Power" explains that the murkiness of the anarchic international system and individuals' psychological inclinations to prefer the status quo over uncertain alternatives make it difficult for a great power or hegemon to retrench its overseas military power. This theory is put to the empirical test during the presidency of Donald Trump, with little change in U.S. overseas troop deployments despite the election of a retrenchment advocate. The vast network of overseas U.S. military bases and troops is likely to persist for a long time to come, barring any dramatic, unforeseeable international event.

Format: Hardback
Length: 302 pages
Publication date: 26 February 2022
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Why is it so challenging for a great power or a hegemon to reduce its overseas military power? Specifically, why are U.S. military bases and troops still largely where they were five years ago, twenty years ago, or even seventy years ago? This book offers an explanation through developing a theory of great-power persistence. Closely aligned with neoclassical realism, the theory argues that the murkiness of the anarchic international system combines with specific psychological inclinations of individuals to produce "better-safe-than-sorry" policies. In the United States, decisions on troop deployments are powerfully influenced by the broader foreign-policy community. Its members tend to be risk-averse and highly sensitive to the possibility that even minor troop withdrawals might set off harmful geopolitical chain reactions. Preferring the status quo over any uncertain alternative, they want their country to continue to maximize its influence and project its military power abroad in order to steady wobbling geopolitical "dominoes." The theory is put to the empirical test through a systematic analysis of U.S. overseas troop deployments, withdrawal attempts, and retrenchment resistance during the presidency of Donald Trump, which represents an ideal test case for these mechanisms. Even if U.S. voters elected a retrenchment advocate as president, and despite that the United States is a gradually declining power, the period saw very little change in U.S. overseas troop deployments. The book concludes that, barring any dramatic, unforeseeable international event, the vast network of overseas U.S. military bases and troops is likely to persist for a long time to come.

Weight: 549g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030944872
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022