Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: The commitment of the Obama administration to democracy assistance has become an issue of considerable debate.Whilst his predecessor, President George W. Bush, claimed it was America's mission to promote democracy with the goal of 'ending tyranny in our world,' President Obama has largely avoided the term.Indeed, Obama's Inaugural Address and his first State of the Union speech made no explicit reference to democracy assistance, whilst his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, called for a foreign policy that promotes the 'three Ds' of defence, diplomacy, and development; a triumvirate conspicuous by the absence of the D of democracy.The delayed appointments of key democracy assistance officials-it took until July 7 before Obama nominated a candidate for Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor-further suggested that democracy assistance was not a high priority for the Obama administration.However, rather than signalling a decline in America's commitment to democracy assistance, this article contends that such behaviour is indicative of a considered and astute response to overcoming the tarnished legacy of democracy assistance that Bush bequeathed to Obama.Moreover, it is a response which promises to deliver a more sophisticated and coherent brand of democracy assistance.*** As of January 20, 2010, Obama has been President of the United States of America for one year.Ordinarily, this would be a rather short time from which to draw any meaningful conclusions about new foreign policy directions.However, the Obama administration has so far proved far from ordinary and has been characterised by a string of major foreign policy statements on U.S.-Muslim relations, the detention of foreign prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, commitment to democracy in sub-Saharan Africa, and in relations with a range of traditionally unreceptive states including Iran, Syria, and Honduras.
Source: Lirias
Author: Richard Lappin
Language: English
Subfield: Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W117097152