Barack Obama's Post-American Foreign Policy: The Limits of Engagement

Barack Obama’s election was widely perceived as a turning point in American foreign policy after the controversial and often divisive period under George W. Bush. The great expectations for change in style and substance were significantly, possibly permanently, tempered according to Robert Singh’s analysis at the midway point of Obama’s first term.

The distance between the "change euphoria" of November 2008 and the reality of today is the result of two key factors. First, the international problems confronting Obama appear intractable, especially with the United States stretched thin, both economically and militarily. Equally important, the partial delivery of Obama’s "change agenda" has been criticized by conservatives as advancing America’s decline and by liberals as showing continuity with the policies of his Republican predecessor.

Singh argues that Obama’s international approach of "strategic engagement" and his search for the pragmatic ideological middle have cost him political support at home and abroad and have failed to make decisive gains. As such, while assessing his foreign policies to the emergence of what is becoming a "post-American" world, the president has yet to craft or preside over a long-awaited renaissance in American global leadership.

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Barack Obama's Post-American Foreign Policy: The Limits of Engagement

Barack Obama’s election was widely perceived as a turning point in American foreign policy after the controversial and often divisive period under George W. Bush. The great expectations for change in style and substance were significantly, possibly permanently, tempered according to Robert Singh’s analysis at the midway point of Obama’s first term.

The distance between the "change euphoria" of November 2008 and the reality of today is the result of two key factors. First, the international problems confronting Obama appear intractable, especially with the United States stretched thin, both economically and militarily. Equally important, the partial delivery of Obama’s "change agenda" has been criticized by conservatives as advancing America’s decline and by liberals as showing continuity with the policies of his Republican predecessor.

Singh argues that Obama’s international approach of "strategic engagement" and his search for the pragmatic ideological middle have cost him political support at home and abroad and have failed to make decisive gains. As such, while assessing his foreign policies to the emergence of what is becoming a "post-American" world, the president has yet to craft or preside over a long-awaited renaissance in American global leadership.

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Barack Obama's Post-American Foreign Policy: The Limits of Engagement

Barack Obama's Post-American Foreign Policy: The Limits of Engagement

by Robert Singh
Barack Obama's Post-American Foreign Policy: The Limits of Engagement

Barack Obama's Post-American Foreign Policy: The Limits of Engagement

by Robert Singh

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Overview

Barack Obama’s election was widely perceived as a turning point in American foreign policy after the controversial and often divisive period under George W. Bush. The great expectations for change in style and substance were significantly, possibly permanently, tempered according to Robert Singh’s analysis at the midway point of Obama’s first term.

The distance between the "change euphoria" of November 2008 and the reality of today is the result of two key factors. First, the international problems confronting Obama appear intractable, especially with the United States stretched thin, both economically and militarily. Equally important, the partial delivery of Obama’s "change agenda" has been criticized by conservatives as advancing America’s decline and by liberals as showing continuity with the policies of his Republican predecessor.

Singh argues that Obama’s international approach of "strategic engagement" and his search for the pragmatic ideological middle have cost him political support at home and abroad and have failed to make decisive gains. As such, while assessing his foreign policies to the emergence of what is becoming a "post-American" world, the president has yet to craft or preside over a long-awaited renaissance in American global leadership.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781780930381
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 06/05/2012
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robert Singh is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, London; fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a member of the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. His publications include American Government and Politics (2003) and Contemporary American Politics: Issues and Controversies (2003) and (as co-author) After Bush: The Case for Continuity in Amercian Foreign Policy (2008).

Table of Contents

List of Tables x

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

1 A Post-American Foreign Policy for the Post-American World 1

Introduction 2

Audacious No Longer: From the Fierce Urgency of Now to the Timidity of "Hope" 9

Contextualizing Obama 15

Plan of the Book 18

2 The "Human Ink-Blot": Obama, Foreign Policy and the 2008 Election 21

Introduction 21

"I've Got a Confusion on Obama": Cosmopolitan, Liberal Internationalist, Realist, Reaganite, Leftist? 25

The Stealth Candidate: Symbolism as Strategy (Hope) and Substance (Change) 28

Commander-in-Chief/Cosmopolitan-in-Chief 31

Conclusion 37

3 The Obama Doctrine: "Leading From Behind" 39

Introduction 39

Obama's Grand Strategy: Engagement 41

Implementing Strategic: Engagement (2009-12) 48

The Conservative Critique: Obama and the End of American Exceptionalism 56

Conclusion 63

4 Afghanistan, Pakistan and the War on Terror 66

Introduction 66

Un-Declaring the War on Terror 68

From the Team of Rivals to Rival Teams 73

Pakistan: Failing State of Terror 77

Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement in South Asia 86

5 Iran 89

Introduction 90

Extending a hand, Unclenching a Fist: Towards a "Grand Bargain" 91

The Iranian Presidential Election Crisis of 2009 93

From Engagement to Sanctions to Regime Change 95

Evaluating Obama's Iran Strategy 98

Iraq 105

Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement with Iran 107

6 Israel, Palestine and the Arab Spring 111

Introduction 111

Obama's Strategic Options 113

Israel and the Palestinian Territories 115

The Arab Spring: the Inevitable Surprise 123

Egypt 125

Libya 127

Syria 130

Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement in the Middle East 134

7 China 139

Introduction 140

US China Strategy for the 2010s: Peaceful Rise, Post-Ascent Aggression or Unpeaceful Collapse? 143

Obama and China: from Engagement to Hedging 148

Economic Relations 149

Chinese Military Developments: Enter the Dragon 154

Taiwan 157

Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement with China 159

8 Russia 162

Introduction 163

Resetting Russian-American Relations 166

Missile Defense, New Start, and Afghanistan 169

Missile Defense 169

New Start 172

Afghanistan, Central Asia and the "Post-Soviet Space" 175

Resetting the Reset? 176

Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement with Russia 180

9 Keep the Change: Continuity We can Believe in 184

Introduction 185

The Four Limits of Strategic Engagement 190

Conclusion 199

Notes 203

Bibliography 227

Index 243

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