A Historical Application of Offshore Balancing: A Comparative Analysis of the Napoleonic War and the South China Sea Strategy

Authors

• Kati Quigg, Southern Methodist UniversityFollow

Abstract

Through a historical analysis of Britain’s offshore balancing during the Napoleonic War, how does China’s economic and geographical expansionism threaten US interests and reinforce America’s Grand Strategy through offshore balancing? By employing Mearsheimer’s offshore balancing as a response by insular great powers to rising continental hegemony, I will explore how Britain’s Napoleonic Grand Strategy—non-continental intervention, reliance on subsidizing alliances, and maritime dominance—both informs and complicates the American Grand Strategy in the South China Sea. China’s Nine-Dashed Line of 1948, a map published by the People’s Republic of China, serves as the basis for its modern territorial claims—directly infringing upon the territorial and thus sovereign claims of states in the South China Sea. Although contested land claims primarily affect uninhabitable archipelagos, they pose both symbolic and economic threats to US allies. The US has responded with conditional security commitments to allies and deference to international institutions, such as UNCLOS, thereby reinforcing its status as an offshore balancer.

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Recommended Citation

Quigg, Kati (2026) "A Historical Application of Offshore Balancing: A Comparative Analysis of the Napoleonic War and the South China Sea Strategy," The Dialogue: Vol. 11: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholar.smu.edu/thedialogue/vol11/iss1/4