Contrary to the myth that democracies cannot pursue long-term grand strategies, the United States has been following the same basic grand strategy for three-quarters of a century. In fact, it is a variant of the same grand strategy that liberal leviathans have been pursuing for over two thousand years from Athens to Rome, from Venice to Amsterdam, and from London to Washington, DC. Step one, build a liberal international system. Step two, invite other nations to join. Step three, defend the system from challengers.
