A nation’s grand strategy is its overarching plan to utilize all aspects of national power—military, economic, diplomatic, and cultural—to achieve long-term objectives. Unlike short-term tactics, grand strategy focuses on how a state sustains its security, economic interests, and global standing over time.

Historically, examples include the British Empire’s focus on naval supremacy to protect its global colonies or the U.S.’s Cold War strategy of containment against Soviet expansion. A grand strategy encompasses military alliances, trade policies, and diplomatic negotiations that work together to maintain or expand a nation’s influence on the global stage.