Lost Decade

Abstract For more than two centuries, the United States was a Europe-first power. In 2011, however, the Obama administration announced a change: Asia would now serve as America’s priority region. The notion quickly won support among policymakers in both parties and across the Trump and Biden administrations. Not all went according to plan. This book tells the story of Washington’s attempted strategic reorientation during a period of rising of Chinese power and assertiveness. It examines the impulse behind the Pivot, analyzes challenges the policy has posed for America’s global commitments, and investigates where and how it faltered. The book assesses responses to the Pivot across regions and strategic trendlines in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. It details China’s growing might and aggressive actions throughout the 2010s and beyond. More than ten years after the policy’s announcement, careful examination indicates that the United States did not, in fact, pivot to Asia. This “lost decade” coincided with a massive expansion of Chinese power and assertiveness, a deepening of America’s domestic divisions, and rising doubts about US intentions, staying power, and competence. Yet even after a lost decade, the Pivot remains America’s proper strategic orientation, and one that should ground US foreign policy. Critical to the endeavor is a strategic concept that aligns American objectives—in Asia and elsewhere—with the policies, resources, and activities necessary to achieve them. In articulating such a concept, this book applies lessons from the recent past to chart a new course for the future.