Offshore Balancing and the United States Foreign Policy toward ISIS

Subject Areas :

محمود  علیپور گرجی ¹ (Faculty)
Abdul Majid  seifi ² (Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi University)
Sanaz  Yousefi ³ (Department of Political Science, Ayatollah Boroujerdi University)

Received: 2021-01-30 Accepted : 2021-10-11 Published : 2021-12-22

Keywords: ISIS, Middle East, United States, offshore balancing, Buck-passing,

Abstract :

In recent years, the formation and enlargement of the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) lead to new dynamics in Middle East politics. It regards to the US foreign policy toward the ISIS impact on the new structure of relations, coalitions and disintegrations in the region. In the basis of offshore balancing grand strategy, the United States tries to prevent in formation any regional hegemon in the Middle East. The main question of this article is: what we can explain the United States foreign policy toward the ISIS(From 2013 to 2017) in the Middle East? The hypothesis of this article is: «the United States by using of offshore balancing grand strategy, in one hand, buck-passing the liability of control of the ISIS to Iran, Syria and Iraq, and the other hand, using ISIS as an instrument for balance of power in the Middle East». The present study is an applied research in a descriptive-analytical method. The findings of the study indicate that the United States in 2013-2017 is trying to curb ISIS on the one hand and increase its influence on the other hand at the expense of the government to which it has been transferred.

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