Study on the Current US Strategic Adjustment in the Middle East

Abstract: After the end of the Cold War, the US pushed its hegemonic strategy fully in the Middle East depending on its position as the only super power in the world and tried to establish its hegemony in the Middle East with military interference and political reconstruction. However, the Iraq war that the US launched in 2003 has not only consumed much of its own strength but also caused many conditions that the US cannot deal with, such as the increase of the Iranian theocratic power, the expanding of terrorism, and the spread of Islamic people’s uprisings. Faced with the combination and the development of anti-US forces, the US has to adjust its strategy and replace military hegemony with an offshore balancing strategy. The offshore balancing strategy stresses that the US should transfer the responsibility of maintaining the regional security to the allies in this region and encourages them to form a balance to contain the hostile Islamic forces. At the same time, the US should withdraw its military force from the Middle East region. It will be helpful to avoid the hostile Islamic forces to prompt the anti-US sentiment and to maintain hegemony for the US in the region with a more cover way.