The Enduring Appeal of Grand Strategy

Abstract Grand strategy is rife with tensions and paradoxes. It should, according to well-established conventional wisdoms, be the center of gravity of states’ relations with the outside world, yet, in practice, grand strategy often seems an unattainable ideal. As the world has become seemingly more complex and unpredictable, grand strategy might seem less apposite, but it has also had growing resonance in the world of policy and ideas. Grand strategy has long been a staple of thinking about foreign policy, yet the very concept remains contested. This essay introduces readers to the history of the concept of grand strategy and to that literature’s central themes; explores the abiding tensions in the literature on grand strategy—especially as manifest in the contributions to this Handbook; situates the volume’s essays within the logic of the Handbook; and offers some reflections on the reasons for grand strategy’s recent renaissance.