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The phrase "so that" can indicate either result or purpose. I'm wondering which is meant here:

The U.S. remains committed to ensuring Israel’s military dominance in the region, so that further aggression resulting from the imbalance of force is not unlikely.

It's from a book by Noam Chomsky entitled Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians. I don't think providing more context can help here. But we know that the author is a well-known critic of the foreign policies of the US.

I asked an AI. It answered that both meanings are possible here, but "so that" is probably indicating result in this case.

Does our understanding of the sentence depend on our attitude toward the US? I mean if we regard it as a very evil entity, we may feel purpose is meant in the sentence.

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  • so that is an easy term.
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 3 at 14:49
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    "so that further aggression [on the part of Israel] resulting from [its military dominance] is not unlikely." I see it as an (unintended) consequence.
    – TimR
    Commented Aug 4 at 13:31

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Paraphrasing the quote, it means

By making sure Israeli forces remain dominant, the probability of recurring aggression due to OR because of the imbalance of military force is likely.

In this instance, the transitional phrase "so that", which indicates cause and effect, could be swapped with due to or because of without changing the meaning.

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The quote is missing crucial context

In context, it is clear that it is the author’s assertion that it is Israel’s military dominance (the imbalance of forces) that causes the aggression. The implication being that if Israel’s military were more on par with its neighbours, the aggression would be less likely.

So, the statement is that the US wants Israeli dominance but it is not clear that they want the aggression that the author says flows from that.

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Edit: I misread the double negative at the end of the quote in question. I agree that it would fit with "result".

Purpose and result are not incompatible. A result can be unintended or intended. Purpose can be thought of as an intended result, i.e. a subset of result.

In practice, "so (that)" denoting purpose can be replaced with "in order that"

I eat, so that I am not hungry.

while "so that" denoting a non-volitional result can be replaced with "with the result that".

It rained, so that the ground is wet.
The birds return every year around March, so that April is a good time to see them.

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    I find the last example to be a little unusual, I'd prefer to write: "It rained, so the ground is wet." OR "It rained, so that's why the ground is wet" OR "The ground is wet because it rained."
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 3 at 11:48
  • Your example in the answer still sounds weird to me. I don't believe any native speaker would say that.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 3 at 13:27

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