Federico Bordonaro, Ph.D.
Political Officer @ Embassy of Canada | Ambassade du Canada 🇨🇦 | Foreign & Security Policy Analysis
Alfred Thayer Mahan’s core theory posited that the outcomes of major power conflicts in the 17th and 18th centuries were significantly influenced by the effective use of naval force by certain states (Mahan 1890). Mahan presented a historical and strategic analysis of great power competition between 1660 and 1783, heavily shaped by geographical factors. He clearly understood the geographic context that allowed Great Britain to achieve naval supremacy. However, Mahan’s theoretical goals extended beyond providing historical strategic guidance for his nation. In his magnum opus, he also envisioned future “transnational” cooperation among the leading trade-dependent maritime powers to ensure open seas for free trade in an increasingly global market (Sumida 2006). Thus, Mahan’s grand theory was global in scope, though rooted in the analysis of select European states’ histories. Given that he wrote at the end of the 19th century, an era of rising inter-imperial rivalries (Hobsbawm 1987, Parker 1985), it is unsurprising that his theories were acknowledged and adapted by nationalist, imperial, and state-centered elites in the West and beyond (Sumida 2006; Cropsey and Milikh 2012). Therefore, it is significant to examine how Mahan’s ideas influenced U.S. strategy and theoretical discussions on maritime supremacy, particularly concerning the Caribbean region.