Abstract

Maintaining a favourable balance of power in the Pacific has been a vital US interest for generations. It has informed American strategy since the days of Alfred Thayer Mahan. Today, the US and its allies confront the gravest challenge to the Indo-Pacific balance since World War II, at a time of growing uncertainty about Washington’s own commitment to the region. This seminar will examine the key trends in US policy toward the Indo-Pacific and how they will shape the future of a dynamic, volatile region.

About the Speaker

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and a senior advisor at Macro Advisory Partners. He is the author or co-author of many books, including The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World (2025), Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China (2022), co-authored with Michael Beckley, The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today (2022), The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (2019) co-authored with Charles Edel, American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump (2018), and What Good is Grand Strategy? Power and Purpose in American Statecraft from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush (2014). His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and many other outlets. Hal has served as an adviser to the Secretary of Defence, a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and a commissioner on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He speaks on geopolitics and foreign affairs to audiences in government, in academia, and in the private sector around the world.