Obama's Foreign Policy Successes and Failures

One of the foremost promises made by United States President Barack Obama when he took office in 2009 was to restore the US’ position in the world that had been damaged by the disastrous war in Iraq and the impact of the global financial crisis.  Since then, the Obama Administration has made a number of efforts to transform US foreign policy, but these efforts have been impeded by changes in the global balance of power as well as a complete breakdown in stability in a vast swathe of land stretching from West Africa to Central Asia.  Now, the United States faces a myriad of near-term and long-term threats to its stability and to its primacy in global affairs.  In some ways, President Obama’s foreign policies have put the US in a better position to deal with these threats, but in others, misguided US policy has exacerbated these security risks.  Given the surprisingly large role taken by foreign policy in this year’s presidential election in the United States, it is clear that foreign affairs have returned to the fore as a leading issue in the US.

Even President Obama’s harshest critics will admit that his government has had some success in the foreign policy field over the past seven years.  For example, the United States’ efforts to shift its defense and economic focus to Asia has resulted in a major improvement in ties between the US and a host of leading Asian powers as these countries look to the US to offset China’s rising power in that region.  In particular, the Obama Administration built on the Bush Administration’s efforts to strengthen ties with India, which is rapidly becoming the world’s third leading power.  Meanwhile, President Obama’s efforts to rebuild relations with Cuba and Argentina have been well received across Latin America, even as Donald Trump appears to be single-handedly attempting to destroy US relations with this region.  In Europe, the Obama Administration has maintained strong ties with the US’ traditional allies in that region, despite disagreements on a free trade agreement and how to deal with a resurgent Russia.  Finally, while US military forces are engaged in conflicts in a number of countries, President Obama has maintained his promise to keep large-scale US forces from becoming bogged down in overseas conflicts.

While there have been some foreign policy successes during President Obama’s time in office, it can also be said that the world is a more dangerous place today than it was when he took office.  Some of the blame for the increase in global volatility can be attributed the unwillingness of the United States to intervene in conflicts in regions that the Obama Administration does not consider to be core interests of the US.  For example, the dramatic instability in a number of states in northern Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia was largely ignored by the Obama Administration until much of the region had collapsed into chaos and unrest.  Likewise, Russia felt little to fear from the Obama Administration when it became involved in Ukraine’s internal unrest and Syria’s civil war, resulting in Russia appearing to be a vibrant and powerful force on the international scene, when the reality is that the gap in power capacity between the US and Russia huge and continuing to widen.  In Asia, the Obama Administration has been successfully in lining up allies to offset China’s rising power, but this has done little to prevent Beijing from staking claim to much of the waters around East and Southeast Asia and from bolstering its own military power.  Finally, the widening political divisions in the US during the Obama Administration have damaged the US’ ability to project its power in a direct and unified manner.

Without question, President Obama has led the United States during one of the most turbulent times in modern world history and this has had a massive impact on his administration’s foreign policy.  Nevertheless, President Obama has often failed to use the massive resources at his disposal to shift foreign events in a direction desired by the United States.  While the US’ ability to act internationally is being increasingly constrained by the rising power of some of the world’s emerging markets, US power projection capabilities still dwarf those of any other international actor.  Likewise, US military power remains many times that of any other state, but President Obama has been reluctant to use it, in large part due to his government’s efforts to pull the US out of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Unfortunately, in an increasingly dangerous world, any weakness shown by the leading power could lead to a widespread descent into unrest and chaos, as smaller powers no longer fear the threat of intervention by the dominant power.  That is the situation facing the United States today and why foreign affairs are once again playing such a large role in US politics.