Unity is America’s Most Powerful Strategic Asset

By Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. 

Our adversaries understand that pessimism, demographic decline, and political fragmentation can succeed where force alone cannot. 

Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze, 1851 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Political division is not just a domestic inconvenience. It’s strategic vulnerability—one our adversaries understand and exploit with ruthless clarity. From Hamas seeking to fracture Israeli society to Beijing probing Taiwan’s political fault lines, our enemies know that pessimism, distrust, and internal division weaken nations far more effectively than missiles alone. And when that pessimism takes root, it feeds something more dangerous: demographic decline. 

I have spent my professional life working at the intersection of security and human behavior. One lesson is constant: confidence matters. Nations that believe in themselves endure hardship; those that do not begin to hollow out from within. Terrorism, information warfare, and political manipulation are not random acts. They are designed to erode confidence—to make citizens doubt their leaders, their neighbors, and ultimately their future. 

Recent attacks and incidents across democratic societies illustrate this pattern. Acts of terror, failures of governments to respond decisively, and the weaponization of tragedy for partisan blame all reinforce a narrative of helplessness. Research from institutions such as the Pew Research Center and RAND shows that fear increases polarization while reducing social trust. Each time leaders rush to assign partisan blame rather than reinforce shared values, they amplify the very divisions our adversaries seek to widen. 

This erosion of confidence has cascading effects. Fear suppresses optimism. Optimism is essential to family formation, social trust, and national resilience. Demographers have long found that uncertainty about the future—economic, cultural, or physical—correlates with lower fertility rates. Population decline is not merely a social issue; it is a national security crisis hiding in plain sight. 

Nowhere is this dynamic clearer than in the Indo-Pacific. Analysts warn of a dangerous feedback loop between the United States, Taiwan, and China. Uncertainty in Washington weakens Taiwanese morale. Political division within Taiwan feeds doubts among American policymakers. Beijing exploits both, increasing military and diplomatic pressure. As confidence erodes on all sides, deterrence weakens—not because of a lack of technology, but because of a lack of human resolve. Beijing understands this dynamic well. Chinese Communist Party strategy has long emphasized exploiting political division, demographic weakness, and moral doubt within adversary societies to win without fighting. 

Demographic trends across the region make this even more alarming. Northeast Asia—including China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Russia—is aging rapidly and, in many cases, shrinking outright. United Nations projections show declining working-age populations for decades to come. Meanwhile, parts of South and Southeast Asia remain younger and growing. Even high-income democracies face aging populations that strain defense readiness and social systems. 

These realities carry profound policy implications. Technology and tactics can enhance military effectiveness, but they cannot replace people. Mass still matters. Advanced systems require trained, motivated personnel to operate and adapt them. We do not know what tomorrow’s wars will look like, but we know they will require societies that believe their way of life is worth defending. 

Security planning must therefore expand beyond hardware and budgets. States need flexible recruitment policies, broader societal participation in defense, and sustained investment in innovation. Just as importantly, policymakers must grapple with the demographic foundations of power: family formation, social cohesion, and optimism about the future. Territorial disputes and power competition matter, but they unfold within the constraints set by population trends. 

Clarity also matters. Democratic leaders must prioritize flashpoints and respond with discipline and confidence. When leaders clearly articulate their vital interests and stand by them, they can shift the strategic balance. Allies and partners watch closely—not only for capabilities, but for conviction. Alliance cohesion depends as much on shared values and credibility as on military capacity. 

At home, unity begins with reaffirming the principles that have sustained republican governance for centuries: that all people are created equal, that freedom of conscience and worship must be protected, and that government exists to preserve—not redefine—foundational liberties. As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this recommitment is overdue. James Madison warned in Federalist No. 10 that faction, left unchecked, would become democracy’s greatest internal threat—not because disagreement is dangerous, but because division can be weaponized by those hostile to republican self-government. 

Ideologies that undermine these principles by sowing division should be confronted honestly. Frameworks that reduce society to competing groups do not strengthen democracy; they corrode it. Research on civic education shows that citizens are more willing to serve and sacrifice when they share a unifying national story. Reducing people to categories leaves younger generations less prepared for responsibility and service. 

Human flourishing must be the goal—not material comfort alone. Democracy is not sustained by ease or convenience. History shows that societies trading long-term liberty for short-term benefits often lose both. 

The demographic crisis facing democracies has no technological shortcut. The only sustainable solution is the family—men and women committed to raising the next generation. No modern society has reversed population decline without strengthening family formation. 

Women play a central role in this reality. I have served my country in uniform, worked in the private sector, and raised a family. Women flourish when they are free to choose service, leadership, motherhood, or all three—without ideology dictating which paths are valid. Reducing motherhood to mere labor or womanhood to a performative identity does not empower women; it alienates them from one of society’s deepest sources of continuity. 

The consequences of ignoring this are already visible. Surveys show a widening divide between young men and women in younger generations on marriage, children, religion, and national identity. A society that cannot reconcile men and women around shared purpose cannot sustain itself. 

A life of service to one’s country depends upon allegiance to that country—and allegiance requires confidence that the government will preserve foundational freedoms. Faith, family, and the freedom to gather and worship openly are not relics; they are pillars of democratic resilience. Unity must exist within societies and among allies alike. 

Political division is not destiny—but if left unchecked, it will continue to be weaponized against us. Rebuilding confidence, strengthening families, and recommitting to shared values are not sentimental gestures. They are strategic necessities. 

The author is co-editor of Population Decline and the Remaking of Great Power Politics and editor of Women Peace and Security (WPS) in US Security Cooperation.