“Zack Cooper’s book is a first-rate example of policy-relevant basic research. Theoretically innovative and empirically rich, it has important implications for the most pressing questions confronting today’s national security analysts and decision-makers: How can a hard-pressed America adapt its military doctrine, strategic objectives, and future investments to best counter an increasingly powerful and aggressive China?”—Aaron L. Friedberg, author of The Weary Titan: Britain and the Experience of Relative Decline, 1895–1905

“In this masterful study, Zack Cooper offers a sweeping account of the remarkably predictable ways that great powers have fashioned military strategy and capacities as they move along the grand geopolitical arc of rise and decline. Drawing on insights from the strategic behavior of leading states from across the twentieth century, the book sharply illuminates the current defense dilemmas facing the United States and China in a rapidly shifting global system.”—G. John Ikenberry, Princeton University

“This outstanding book does what has been urgently needed: providing a road map for U.S. defense policy in Asia. No one else has thought as carefully and comprehensively as Zack Cooper about America’s relationships and defense strategy in Asia, the policy tools available to us, and how to employ those tools in mutually reinforcing ways.”—Kori Schake, author of Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony

“Gallons of ink have been spilled explaining the rise and fall of nations, but what explains the rise and fall of militaries and their distinctive defense strategies? Zack Cooper’s novel, synthetic approach examines how broad changes in the relative military balance interact with technology to prompt predictable shifts in approach. This illuminating study is essential reading for all students of defense strategy and the changing dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region.”—Eric S. Edelman, former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy