How do two conventionally powerful, nuclear armed, but commercially oriented great powers, reliant on sea lanes and global maritime infrastructure, engage in a long-term strategic rivalry? This book presents a research agenda using a variety of methods to explore this unique competitive environment for China and the United States.

Jonathan D. Caverley is Professor of Strategy in the Strategic and Operational Research Department of the Naval War College's Center for Naval Warfare Studies, Newport, USA. He is the inaugural director of the Bernard Brodie Strategy Group.

Peter Dombrowski is the William B. Ruger Chair of National Security Economics in the Strategic and Operational Research Department. Previous positions include Chair of the Strategic Research Department, Editor of the Naval War College Review, Co-Editor of International Studies Quarterly, and Associate Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University. Dombrowski is the author of over 65 publications. His most recent book is The End of Grand Strategy: U.S. Maritime Operations in the 21st Century (2018).

1. Too Important to Be Left to the Admirals: The Need to Study Maritime Great-Power Competition 2. The Influence of Sea Power on Politics: Domain- and Platform-Specific Attributes of Material Capabilities 3. Clashes at Sea: Explaining the Onset, Militarization, and Resolution of Diplomatic Maritime Claims 4. Cruising for a Bruising: Maritime Competition in an Anti-Access Age 5. All-In or All-Out: Why Insularity Pushes and Pulls American Grand Strategy to Extremes 6. The Maritime Rung on the Escalation Ladder: Naval Blockades in a US-China Conflict 7. Primacy and Punishment: US Grand Strategy, Maritime Power, and Military Options to Manage Decline