In “The Pivot before the Pivot: U.S. Strategy to Preserve the Power Balance in Asia,” Nina Silove provides an illuminating history of U.S. policy in Asia since 2001.1 She argues that, with the goal of preserving the balance of power in the Asia Pacific, the George W. Bush administration undertook a substantial “reorientation strategy” in the early 2000s, combining internal balancing, external balancing, and expanded engagement. Three problems, however, weaken Silove's argument that the Bush administration engaged in internal and external balancing in Asia.
First, Silove fails to provide a clear and coherent definition of balancing, both internal and external. To be fair, Silove does provide a few cursory definitions. She defines balancing as a strategy in which a state “aims to match the rate of growth of the rising power to maintain the power balance.” She then defines internal balancing as efforts to “increas[e] the power of the...