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

by Singh, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781780930374
• ISBN10: 1780930372
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-05
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Robert Singh is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. His publications include American Government and Politics (2003), Contemporary American Politics: Issues and Controversies (2003), (as co-editor) The Bush Doctrine and the War on Terrorism (2006) and (as co-author) After Bush: The Case For Continuity in American Foreign Policy (2008).

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. x
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xi
A Post-American Foreign Policy for the Post-American World	p. 1
Introduction	p. 2
Audacious No Longer: From the Fierce Urgency of Now to the Timidity of "Hope"	p. 9
Contextualizing Obama	p. 15
Plan of the Book	p. 18
The "Human Ink-Blot": Obama, Foreign Policy and the 2008 Election	p. 21
Introduction	p. 21
"I've Got a Confusion on Obama": Cosmopolitan, Liberal Internationalist, Realist, Reaganite, Leftist?	p. 25
The Stealth Candidate: Symbolism as Strategy (Hope) and Substance (Change)	p. 28
Commander-in-Chief/Cosmopolitan-in-Chief	p. 31
Conclusion	p. 37
The Obama Doctrine: "Leading From Behind"	p. 39
Introduction	p. 39
Obama's Grand Strategy: Engagement	p. 41
Implementing Strategic Engagement (2009-12)	p. 48
The Conservative Critique: Obama and the End of American Exceptionalism	p. 56
Conclusion	p. 63
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the War on Terror	p. 66
Introduction	p. 66
Un-Declaring the War on Terror	p. 68
From the Team of Rivals to Rival Teams	p. 73
Pakistan: Failing State of Terror	p. 77
Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement in South Asia	p. 86
Iran	p. 89
Introduction	p. 90
Extending a Hand, Unclenching a First: Towards a "Grand Bargain"	p. 91
The Iranian Presidential Election Crisis of 2009	p. 93
From Engagement to Sanctions to Regime Change	p. 95
Evaluating Obama's Iran Strategy	p. 98
Iraq	p. 105
Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement with Iran	p. 107
Israel, Palestine and the Arab Spring	p. 111
Introduction	p. 111
Obama's Strategic Options	p. 113
Israel and the Palestinian Territories	p. 115
The Arab Spring: the Inevitable Surprise	p. 123
Egypt	p. 125
Libya	p. 127
Syria	p. 130
Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement in the Middle East	p. 134
China	p. 139
Introduction	p. 140
US China Strategy for the 2010s: Peaceful Rise, Post-Ascent Aggression or Unpeaceful Collapse?	p. 143
Obama and China: from Engagement to Hedging	p. 148
Economic Relations	p. 149
Chinese Military Developments: Enter the Dragon	p. 154
Taiwan	p. 157
Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement with China	p. 159
Russia	p. 162
Introduction	p. 163
Resetting Russian-American Relations	p. 166
Missile Defense, New START, and Afghanistan	p. 169
Missile Defense	p. 169
New START	p. 172
Afghanistan, Central Asia and the "Post-Soviet Space"	p. 175
Resetting the Reset?	p. 176
Conclusion: the Limits of Strategic Engagement with Russia	p. 180
Keep the Change: Continuity We Can Believe In	p. 184
Introduction	p. 185
The Four Limits of Strategic Engagement	p. 190
Conclusion	p. 199
Notes	p. 203
Bibliography	p. 227
Index	p. 243
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.