Comparative Analysis of Trump and Biden's approach in the Framework of the Offshore Balance Strategy with Emphasis on the Middle East

Subject Areas : International Relations

arsalan ghorbani sheikhneshin ^{1 *} , Mahdi Ansari ²

1 - Professor of International Relations, Khwarizmi University, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 - PhD in International Relations, Khwarazmi University, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2024-08-25 Accepted : 2024-12-23 Published : 2025-01-25

Keywords: Offshore Balancing Strategy, Integrated Deterrence Doctrine, Friend-shoring, Trump, Biden, Middle East.,

Abstract :

   The purpose of this article is to examine the tactics of the Trump and Biden administrations in the time intervals from 2016 to 2024 based on the offshore balance strategy in the Middle East region. The central question of the research is that What are the approaches of the Trump and Biden administrations to implement the offshore balance strategy in the Middle East? despite the differences in tactics, the Trump and Biden governments paid attention to the principles of the offshore balance strategy, i.e. Balance of Threat and Balance of Power; Trump, in a unilateralist approach and resorting to the harsh side of the offshore balance strategy, withdrawing the US from its obligations and prioritizing the interests of the US over providing security for regional allies and partners, made security arrangements in the form of the Abraham Accords, the Arab NATO and Delegating the responsibility to America's allies made it practical. But Biden tried to pursue American interests in the region in the form of economic and security agreements, while abandoning open intervention procedures. Dealing with China's economic prospects and finding a coalition to encourage the countries of the region to participate in it and assigning responsibility to Saudi Arabia and Israel to deal with the threat of Iran, specifically in the form of integrated deterrence doctrine and pursuing a partial friend-shoring strategy One of these tactics was used by the Biden administration. In this article, the comparative method and the theoretical framework of offshore balance are used.

References:

جوادی، امین رضا، متقی، ابراهیم، ابطحی، مصطفی (1402)، سیاست مقایسه خاورمیانه¬ای ترامپ و بایدن؛ از موازنه نظامی تا موازنه فراساحلی، فصلنامه علوم سیاسی، سال 26، شماره دوم، صص 273-237.
غفاری هشجین، زاهد، جندقی، حسین (1400)، پیامدهای عادی سازی روابط اسرائیل و بحرین بر جمهوری اسلامی ایران، فصلنامه خاورمیانه، سال 29، شماره اول پیاپی 107، صص 106-87.
مرکز تحلیل راهبردی و بین‌الملل (1403). بررسی نگاه‌ها و سیاست‌های مطرح شده در قانـون اختیـارات دفـاع مـلی ۲۰۲۴ ایالات متحده نسبت به چین. مرکز تحلیل راهبردی و بین‌الملل. فروردین 1403. برگرفته از: ISA-Report 23 (isacenter.ir).
والت، استفان (1400). جهنم نیات خوب: نخبگان سیاست خارجی آمریکا و افول برتری ایالات متحده. ترجمه مهدی انصاری. تهران: ابرار معاصر.
پشت پرده کریدور خاورمیانه¬ای بایدن؛ درج شده در سایت اقتصادنیوز به آدرس:
https://www.eghtesadnews.com.
Arab News. (2023), “India planning ‘power grid with Saudi Arabia, UAE’.” Arab News. April 25. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2292666/ business-economy.
Ben-Ami, Shlomo. (2020).The Consequences of the Israel– UaePeaceDeal. Retrieved From: Https://Www.Aspistrategist.Org.Au/TheConsequences-Of-The-Israel-Uae-PeaceDeal.
Benson, E., & Kapstein, E. B. (2023). The limits of “Friend-Shoring.” https://www.csis.org/analysis/limits-friend-shoring.
Bhatt,Yagyavalk and Jitendra Roychoudhury (2023), India-Middle East, Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) Instant Insight October 02, 2023 I KS--2023-II11 Yagyavalk Bhatt and Jitendra Roychoudhury Bridging Economic and Digital Aspirations, Kapsarc, pp 1-11.
Biden, Joe (2020), “Joe Biden: There’s aSmarter Way to be Tough on Iran”, September 13, CNN Agency, Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/13/opinions/smarter-way-to-be-toughon-iran-joe-biden/index.html.
Brands, H. (2015, 24 September). The limits of offshore balancing. Political Science. Retrieved From: https://doi.org/10.21236/ada621792.
Dezenski, E., & Austin, J. C. (2021, June 8). Rebuilding America’s economy and foreign policy with ‘ally-shoring’ Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/rebuilding-americas-economy-and-foreign-policy-with-ally-shoring/.
Edmondson, C. (2020). Senate Rejects Attempted Blockade of Weapons Sale to U.A.E. The NewYork Times. December 9, at: https://www.nytime Com.
Simon, Steven and Stevenson, Jonathan (August 13 2018). Foreign Affairs, Trump's Dangerous Obsession with Iran; Why Hostility Is Counterproductive”, Access in: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/2018-08-13/trumps
Helfont, Samuel. (2023). The Limits Of Israeli Sea Power And The Threat Of Escalation With Iran. Retrieved From: Https://Www.Hoover.Org/Research/Limits-Israeli-SeaPower-And-ThreatEscalation-Iran.
Jackson, K., & Shepotylo, O. (2023). Friend-shoring: what Biden wants to achieve by trading with allies rather than rivals. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/friend-shoring-what-biden-wants-to-achieve-by-trading-with-allies-rather-than-rivals-223582.
Krieg, A. (2016), ”Externalizing the burden of war: the Obama Doctrine and US foreign policy in the Middle East”, International Affairs, Vol. 92, No. 1.
Manak, I. (2023, October 25). Friendshoring’s devil is in the details. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/blog/friendshorings-devil-details
Mandel, E.R. (2020). Will Biden Choose a Values-based or Transactional Foreign Policy?. The Hill. 1.
Mazarr, M. J., & Ke, I. (4 June 2024). Integrated Deterrence as a defense planning concept. RAND. Retrieved From: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA2263-1.html.
Mazarr, M. J., Chan, A., Demus, A., Frederick, B., Nader, A., Pezard, S., Thompson, J. A., & Treyger, E. (2018, November 20). What deters and why: Exploring requirements for effective deterrence of interstate aggression.
Mearsheimer, J. J., & Walt, S. M. (2016). The Case for Offshore Balancing: A Superior U.S. Grand Strategy. Foreign Affairs, 95(4), 70–83. Retrieved From: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43946934.
Mearsheimer, John J. (2014) The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, New York: Norton.
Rabinovich, Itamar, (2015), “Israel and the Changing Middle East”, Middle East Memo, No. 34.
Sazmand, Bahareh and Jovkar, Madi (2016), Regional Security Collections and Relationship Patterns Between Persian Gulf countries, Geopolitics Quarterly, Volume 12, No 2, Summer.
Shay, Shaul, (2016), Bridge over Troubled Water - Egypt and Saudi Arabia to build the Red Sea Bridge, IPS publication.
Sullivan, Jake (2023). The Sourses of American Power: A Foreign Policy for a Changed Word. Foreign Affairs. Volume 102. Nomber 6. 8-30.
The European Council on Foreign Relations (2023), https://ecfr.eu/article/intersections-of-influence-imec-and-europes-role-in-a-multipolar-middle-east/.
The White House (2023), Ministry of External Affairs.
U.S. Department of State(2023) , https://www.state.gov/i2u2/.
U.S. Department of Defense. (27 October 2022). National Defense Strategy. Retrieved From: https://www.defense.gov/National-Defense-Strategy/.
Walt, Stephen M. (1987) The Origins of Alliances, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Walt, Stephen M. (2005) Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy, New York: Norton.
Wolfe, R. (2023). Is using trade policy for foreign policy a ‘SNO job’? On Linkage, Friend-Shoring, and the challenges for Multilateralism. World Trade Review, 22(3–4), 474–483. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474745623000071.