Christopher Layne attributes the introduction of the term "offshore balancing" to himself in his 1997 article. Several experts on strategy, such as
John Mearsheimer,
Stephen Walt,
Robert Pape, Andrew Latham, Patrick Porter, and
Andrew Bacevich, have embraced the approach. They argue that offshore balancing has its historical roots in
British grand strategy regarding Europe, which was eventually adopted and pursued by the
United States and
Japan at various points in their history. According to political scientist John Mearsheimer, in his University of Chicago "American Grand Strategy" class, offshore balancing was the strategy used by the United States in the 1930s and also in the 1980–1988
Iran–Iraq War. Mearsheimer argues that when the United States gave Lend-Lease aid to Britain in the 1940s, the United States engaged in offshore balancing by being the arsenal of democracy, not the fighter for it. That is consistent with offshore balancing because the United States initially did not want to commit American lives to the European conflict. The United States supported the losing side (Iraq) in the Iran–Iraq War to prevent the development of a
regional hegemon, which could ultimately threaten American influence. Furthermore, offshore balancing can seem like
isolationism when a rough
balance of power in international relations exists, which was the case in the 1930s. It was also the strategy used during the Cold War between the United States and
Soviet Union. ==Theory==