Comparative Middle-Eastern Policies of Trump and Biden: From Military Balance to Offshore Balance

The comparative policies of US presidents are significant because they can be analyzed in relation to different regional domains. While each president has their own foreign policy notions, they share common goals when it comes to regional security and international politics. Trump and Biden pursued different Middle Eastern policies to exert control over the region, utilizing distinct mechanisms to achieve their objectives. Trump employed the preferential balance of power strategy, while Biden opted for cooperative balance against threats and maximizing interests through offshore balancing. Biden's national security documents, released in 2021 and 2022, suggest that the US's security policy has undergone revisions. The crisis in Ukraine has had implications for regional security and has influenced Biden's approach to Iran. Although Biden and Trump have distinct tactical and strategic perspectives, each US president formulates their regional policies based on the strategic imperatives of international politics. The primary question at hand is to examine the tactical and strategic actions taken by the US in its regional security policy under the administrations of Trump and Biden. To analyze these patterns, we utilize the neo-neo theory, which combines neo-liberalist and neo-realist approaches to regional action. The research is based on the hypothesis that Donald Trump's regional security policy relied on a preference for the balance of power, resulting in preemptive actions to establish this balance. On the other hand, Biden employed offshore balancing mechanisms, aiming to assume the role of a regional balancer in the Middle East.