Strategic dominance

Strategic dominance is a condition or policy in which a state seeks decisive superiority over rivals in military power and the ability to shape strategic outcomes.

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Military superiority: A condition in which one military has greater capability than its potential opponents. It is the material advantage strategic dominance seeks to establish.
Alfred Thayer Mahan: An American naval officer and historian whose writings argued that sea power shapes national influence. His account of naval supremacy helped frame dominance as control of strategic domains.
Balance of power: A distribution of capabilities that prevents any state from becoming overwhelmingly powerful. Balancing seeks to prevent the concentration of power that dominance requires.
Air supremacy: A degree of control of the air that permits operations without prohibitive interference from enemy air forces. It is a domain-specific form of the decisive military superiority dominance seeks.
Security dilemma: A situation in which measures taken by one state to increase its security make others feel less secure. One state's pursuit of dominance can prompt rivals to arm in response.
Deterrence: The prevention of an action by threatening costs that outweigh its expected benefits. Superior capabilities can discourage rivals from challenging a state's interests.
Julian Corbett: A British naval historian who emphasized maritime command as a means to political ends. His limited, strategic view of sea control contrasts with ambitions for absolute command.
Deterrence by denial: A strategy that deters aggression by making its objectives unattainable. It blocks an opponent's gains without requiring superiority across the broader strategic contest.
Command of the sea: The ability to use maritime areas for one's purposes while limiting an adversary's use. It shows how strategic advantage can be defined as control of a particular domain.
Arms race: A competitive buildup of military capabilities by states seeking advantage over one another. Dominance goals can turn military investment into a sustained rivalry.