The Obama Presidency and US Foreign Policy: Where’s the Multilateralism?

Abstract

Skidmore, David. (2011) The Obama Presidency and US Foreign Policy: Where’s the Multilateralism? doi: 10.1111/j.1528‐3585.2011.00454.x © 2011 International Studies Association Expectations that the presidential transition from George W. Bush to Barack Obama would produce a multilateralist turn in American foreign policy have thus far proven misplaced. This is largely because the strategic environment of the post‐Cold War era places structural constraints on the ability of any US president, of whatever ideological leanings, to pursue a consistently multilateralist foreign policy. Internationally, the absence of a shared great power threat has undermined the institutional bargain between the United States and allied states, thus rendering the terms of multilateral cooperation more difficult to agree upon. At home, the end of the Cold War has undermined presidential authority and empowered veto players whose interests are threatened by multilateral commitments. Nevertheless, structure is not destiny. Understanding the sources of political constraint can suggest strategies for overcoming or bypassing such obstacles to multilateral engagement in US foreign policy. A president who wishes to exercise multilateral leadership abroad must seek to renegotiate the terms of US engagement with international institutions while fashioning a compelling rationale that mobilizes public support at home.

Spatial Fragmentation of, and US Support for, the Main Multilateral Institutions of the Western Order

“…Coming after the Bush administration, Obama put US re-engagement with multilateral institutions at the centre of his programme (for a different view, see Skidmore 2012). Being aware of global challenges, his rhetoric was very supportive of the existing universal multilateral institutions, but acknowledged the need to adapt them to the new reality (Obama 2007a).…”

“…Given the increasingly sovereigntist Congress (Drezner 2012), it has been extremely difficult for Obama to undertake bold multilateral initiatives, because to bypass the Congress the only option left was to use presidential or executive agreements (Skidmore 2012;Bellinger 2012). Indeed, partisan polarization, and conservatives' propensity to oppose treaties has led to a higher propensity of the Obama administration to use executive agreements (Voeten 2012;Peake et al 2012;Peake 2016).…”

“…However, this stealth multilateralism (Kaye 2013) signals a feeble domestic support that weakens the US position when it comes to reforming multilateral institutions. Domestic opposition makes it more convenient for US administrations to invest in forms of informal cooperation or minilateralism rather than engage in far-reaching reforms of the existing universal multilateral institutions (Skidmore 2012;Patrick 2014Patrick , 2015. Nevertheless, the Obama administration attributed a strategic role to multilateral institutions.…”

“…However, the recently more frequent US recourse to unilateralism has been traced to structural factors: the end of the Cold War and the greater difficulties for American Presidents to resist parochial groups and veto players who oppose multilateralism at home. These structural factors are an obstacle towards American re-engagement with multilateral institutions, and allow-at most -fragmentary and incremental adjustments in different areas and institutional venues (Skidmore 2005(Skidmore , 2012.…”

Le débat sur la politique étrangère d’Obama : quelle nouvelle « grande stratégie » pour les États-Unis ?

“…Nous nous intéressons ici aux débats entre universitaires et experts concernant l'application des concepts de « grande stratégie » et de « doctrine » à la politique étrangère du président Obama. Lindsay 2011 ;Miller 2010 ;Skidmore 2012). Issue de nombreuses études sur la stratégie, et en particulier sur l'élaboration d'une « grande stratégie » pour Washington (Luttwak 2002 ;Art 2003 ;Biddle 2005 ;Dueck 2005 ;Posen 2007 ;Art 2009 ;Mearsheimer 2010), cette approche repose sur deux postulats principaux.…”