From the time NATO was founded in 1949 to the recent accession of Finland, the United States has remained the foremost military power in NATO. But a question that is not often asked is why? Why would a power like the USA continue to expand promises of defence to an ever larger group of nations that cannot hope to offer a similar level of capability or assistance in return.The acceptance of new allies into NATO or bilateral and multilateral security treaties has not always been without domestic and international opposition. And so today I wanted to follow up on my video on Russian grand strategy, with its baked in goal of undermining American influence and global leadership, with an examination of America’s published security strategy, the role alliances and coalitions play in it, and some of the theory behind why the argument can be made that the basis of American global influence and its privileged security position owe as much to its alliances and coalitions as to otheraspects of its power.