US FOREIGN POLICY IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL UNCERTAINTY: THE OBAMA ERA BETWEEN THE TEA PARTY-LED OPPOSITION AND THE GLOBAL POWER SHIFT IN THE WORLD POLITICS

Year 2011, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 387 - 398, 01.12.2011

Ömer Kurtbağ

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the US foreign policy under Obama by first trying to explore the rhetorical and practical changes brought by his administration to American foreign policy making and then questioning his track record in the wake of both the growing tide of Tea Party-led political opposition to his policies and the rise of Asian nations such as China and India. Its central assumptions are as follows: Firstly, Obama’s foreign policy presents a mix of apparent failures on many key issues and rare achievements in some international crises. It is arguable that Obama has been unable to pursue his own liberal-Democrat agenda so far and instead maintained Bush-style “hard power-oriented” policies. Secondly, as a rapidly rising opposition force, the American right is still powerful enough, with a potential to revitalize a third and Tea Party-led rise of the movement, to reshape the US politics. Thirdly, the study discusses how Obama views the emergence of Asia, as a challenge or opportunity, and how he managed the transformation of world politics in the light of this global power shift. It concludes that US policies should adapt to these new realities of the world order if a peaceful transformation is sought

Keywords

The United States, foreign policy, Obama, Tea Party, global power shift

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