National Security Under the Obama Administration

by Rajaee, Bahram M.; Miller, Mark J.

• ISBN13: 9780230116825
• ISBN10: 0230116825
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

An initial assessment of President Obama's foreign and national security policy, this volume brings together a unique collection of American and non-American scholars to examine various institutional, regional, and major policy dimensions of contemporary US engagement with the world. All contributors have been associated with a series of US foreign and national security policy institutes convened at the University of Delaware, made possible by grants received from the US Department of State and through the generosity of the University of Delaware's Institute for Global Studies. The contributions reflect the constructive dialogue nurtured throughout the institutes.

Author Biography

Bahram M. Rajaee specializes in research at the intersection of the international relations of Southwest Asia, Iranian politics, and US foreign policy. His work on the evolution of US foreign policy in Southwest Asia, radical Islamism, Iranian refugee policy, and the legal regime of the Caspian Sea has appeared in the journals International Politics, Middle East Journal, and Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East as well as chapters in several edited volumes. His current interests include the development of Iranian national security doctrine and long-term patterns of conflict and cooperation among regional states in Southwest Asia. Rajaee received his PhD from the University of Delaware in 2000. He has served as a Director at the University of Delaware's Institute for Global Studies and a staff political scientist at the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC. Mark J. Miller is the Emma Smith Morris Professor at the University of Delaware where he has taught in the Department of Political Science and International Relations since 1978. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he is the co-author with Stephen Castles of The Age of Migration (5th edition, 2012). Miller has served as the academic co-director of a series of institutes on US National Security Policymaking funded by the US Department of State from 2003-2005 and from 2009-2011. He is a recipient of the Francis X, Alison prize, the highest honor bestowed upon faculty by the University of Delaware.

Table of Contents

Introduction:  Bahram M. Rajaee and Mark J. Miller * Part I: US National Security Institutions and Processes * Obama’s Grand Strategy: Agenda and Constraints--Stuart Kaufman * The Somalia Syndrome and US National Security: From Bush to Obama--Robert Patman and Andreas Reitzig * American Defense Policy after the Cold War: A Rational Construction or a Consequence of an Extensive Lobby?--Juliano Cortinhas * Obama’s Intelligence Policy: Meeting New Challenges--Charlotte Lepri * Part II: World Regions * Grand Bargain or Grand Strategy: The Obama Administration and Russia Policy--Geir Flikke * PLA Military Modernization and Sino-Russian Cooperation--Hong-Yi Lien * US Foreign Policy toward Bangladesh: Implications of the Rise of Islamist Terrorism--Shahab Khan * Continuity or Change in U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa: A South African Perspective--Godfrey Ramuhala * Cooperation and Discord in South America in the Twenty-First Century: The Consequences of the Colombia-United States Military Agreement of 2009--Fabio Sanchez Cabarcas * Part III: Policy Issues * American Foreign Policy and the Continuing Struggle against Anti-Americanism in the Muslim World--Muqtedar Khan and Sarah Jane Chehab * Formulating War Aims in a Protracted War Environment: Lessons for US National Security Policy--Major Germán Frechero * Transition to the Endgame: The Challenge of US Policy toward Afghanistan--Dan Green