Heuristic map by u/Ok_Independent5273 (2025)
By Alexander Perepechko
Published on December 30, 2025
From continental consolidation to global primacy—and now to strategic recalibration.
This article examines how U.S. grand strategy evolved from nineteenth-century isolation to post-1941 interventionism and argues that the National Security Strategy 2025 marks a structural adjustment toward restraint, selective primacy, and network-based power amid intensifying great-power competition
Abstract
This article traces the evolution of U.S. grand strategy from continental consolidation in the nineteenth century to post-1941 global engagement, culminating in the pragmatically calibrated approach articulated in the U.S. National Security Strategy 2025 (NSS 2025). It argues that while nineteenth-century isolationism and non-interventionism prioritized continental security and limited external commitments, post-1941 strategy institutionalized global leadership and structural intervention. NSS 2025 synthesizes these historical lessons by balancing selective global engagement, allied burden-sharing, and technological-economic resilience in response to contemporary great-power competition. The strategy demonstrates continuity in U.S. engagement while introducing adaptive mechanisms designed to limit overextension and enhance strategic sustainability in a multipolar and technologically contested environment.
Keywords: U.S. grand strategy; isolationism; interventionism; NSS 2025; great-power competition; strategic recalibration.