Introduction
It has been almost four years since Barack Obama left the White House after his two consecutive terms as president of the United States. However, the debates over his presidency’s results characterized by the idea of renewed idealism and transformation are still ongoing. In foreign policy, this transformation involved changes in the United States approaches to foreign policy, national security, negotiating global nuclear arms control agreements, fighting climate change, and rethinking the country’s worldwide role. This paper aims at discussing the achievements and shortcomings of the 44th U.S. president’s foreign policy.
Three Successes of Obama’s Foreign Policy
Several successes characterize Barack Obama’s foreign policy. First, going above enumerating single achievements, it can be said that the Obama administration managed to acquire a new manner of communication. Demonstrating “a departure from the symbolic but ineffective unilateral maximalism of his predecessors”, Obama successfully negotiated the Iran nuclear issue (Unger, 2016, p. 5). If only for the time being, they allowed the possibility of establishing a more effective international cooperation.
The second most prominent achievement of the Obama foreign policy is restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba and focusing on Asia. These measures were an essential step in transforming the United States strategy and the world balance. Furthermore, the third success of Obama’s foreign policy has become its focus on climate change. The Paris agreement proved to be an essential step forward and determined the world’s environmental agenda.
Three Failures of Obama’s Foreign Policy
In discussions around Barack Obama’s presidency and his foreign-policy agenda, in particular, the negative comments are most predominant. Experts point out war in Afghanistan, failure to interpret the Arab Spring’s meaning, and mishandling of the American-Russian relations and other events (Walt, 2017). However, among the criticisms aiming at concrete mistakes or missteps, it is necessary to point out three significant missed opportunities that could be evaluated as Obama’s foreign policy failures. Thus, the first negative aspect of Obama’s international politics was its misbalance with domestic affairs. Due to Obama’s innate caution and refusal to end the institutional continuity in NSA and other agencies, “he refused to learn and digest lessons and deter any recurrence” (Unger, 2016, p. 3). This led to strategic oversights of world political developments with the earlier mentioned Arab Spring, the rise of ISIS, and further polarization.
The second mistake of Obama’s foreign policy seems to be its expansive nature. Walt (2017) notes, “Obama’s inability to develop a clear set of strategic priorities hurt him throughout his presidency” (para. 16). This loss of focus resulted in half-measures implemented: for instance, the military operations in the Middle East that were limited in Iraq and Afghanistan, but then expanded in other regions.
Finally, the primary failure concerns the failure to keep the promise of transformation. Walt notices: “Obama had the opportunity to refashion America’s role in the world, and at times he seemed to want to do just that” (para. 8). However, due to the first two shortfalls, it has not been done. Trying to establish a dialogue among countries and rethinking the United States’ role in the world, unfortunately, has not come to fruition.
Conclusion
As with other aspects of his presidency, Barack Obama’s foreign policy is characterized by successes and failures. The Obama administration managed to achieve impressive results in the international arena and reveal opportunities for cooperation among countries on nuclear weapons and climate change. However, while it has led the way to the improvement of peace and sustainable development, it was also troubled by various adverse outcomes that were caused by mistakes in leadership and lack of focus.
References
Unger, D. (2016). The foreign policy legacy of Barack Obama. The International Spectator, 51(4), 1-16. Web.
Walt, S. M. (2017). Barack Obama was a foreign-policy failure. Foreign Policy. Web.