Hegemony is unsustainable in an inevitably multipolar world.

Realism contends that whenever the world or part of it exhibits multipolarity, balance of power equation kicks in. Rise of China, Russia, India, and EU have brought back balance of power dynamics back into the global system and the United States needs an appropriate response to it. Quite clearly in a multipolar world, hegemonic grand strategy is untenable for America when the distribution of power has spread to so many poles. For Washington, it must make the distinction of friends and foes between these rising poles. There is now a bipartisan view in the United States about China and Russia being the challengers that Washington must manage. With that in mind, since the beginning of Donald Trump presidency, there has been a discernible sign that the United States is trying to bring back the idea of balance in its grand strategy. Trump presidency and now the Biden presidency have actively sought to build countervailing regional groups like QUAD and AUKUS to balance China in the Indo-Pacific Region. The leadership role taken by Washington in the formation of these groups is a clear indication that the United States is beginning to respond appropriately to the dynamics of balance of power which has now been activated in the Indo-Pacific with the rise of China. Washington needs to further build on these initiatives by completely abandoning hegemony and adopting a grand strategy of balance with the intention of raising the defensive capabilities of its treaty allies and its strategic partners in Asia to counterbalance China. With a shift from hegemony to balance in its grand strategy, America can insulate herself from the drawback of its overarching shadow among other rising nations, which inevitably also insulates her from entering a Thucydides’s Trap with China. At the same time, America would reserve the right to maintain a defensive posture of proportionate retaliation for any attempt to threaten her relative position in the world.