Interests and Values in Obama's foreign Policy: Leading from Behind?

Abstract

This study will exam the relative importance of values and interests in Obama's foreign policy, focusing on crucial cases: the military actions related to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Non-Syria, Al-Qaeda and ISIL. We will argue that his "leading from behind" strategy is not very distant from the foreign and defense strategies of his post-Cold War predecessors, by which democracy is seen as an assurance to security. According to Obama's strategy, Americans will only provide support for the building of democracy in the target countries, while this task should be performed by the locals themselves. Americans will provide military training to the new governments as well so they can be responsible for their own security, including preventing regrouping of terrorists in their soil. If Obama opposes the imposing of democracy by the use of force, empirical data shows that his administration is "not prepared to accept" any option that threats US security or American liberal-democratic values, bringing in this way values and interests very close to each other.

The changing nature and architecture of U.S. democracy assistance

“…The attempt to re-found American foreign policy, moving away from W. Bush's legacy, was materialized with a discreet resumption of assistance for democracy. According to Santos and Teixeira (2015), Obama preferred a "leading from behind" strategy, in which democratization should be a task of nationals, abandoning regime change as a foreign policy option. That was mainly based on multilateral channels (renewing, for example, support for the Community of Democracies network), on the relief of acute democratic crises (as in Haiti, South Sudan, and Côte d'Ivoire), and on open support for rising democracies (Carothers 2012, 18).…”

A Cultura Da Instabilidade Política E a Reaproximação Da América Do Sul Com Os Estados Unidos

“…Persiste assim o padrão de atuação dos Estados Unidos, isto é, o discurso da ingerência em outras regiões e países com o pretexto de "defender os povos oprimidos", "promover a democracia", "destituir ditaduras" e "garantir as liberdades individuais" (Santos e Teixeira 2015, Castro 2014.…”