What Will Obama's Foreign Policy Look Like?

After an expected, yet still impressive, victory last night, Barack Obama will lead the most powerful and imposing nation in the world. His victory largely rested on the economic and social issues of the people of America. This largely reflects his greater experience in domestic politics and social issues rather than in international affairs.

Many, including myself, are now eager to see what President Obama's foreign policies will look like. At the outset, it appears that Mr. Obama's foreign policy will be one of fixing the "mistakes" that President George W. Bush has made during his eight years in office. Most prominent on the agenda is definitely addressing the two wars that he will inherit from the previous administration. Obama campaigned on the desire to pull out of Iraq and re-commit to ending the security problems in Afghanistan. This follows the popular idea that entering Iraq was a mistake and that Afghanistan has greater legitimacy in terms of international security. This was definitely not in the considerations of the previous presidency.

Next, I believe that President Obama will use the aforementioned pullout in Iraq as a credibility booster so that he can take steps to re-invigorate the peace process in the Middle East. This re-invigoration will be in the form of multi-lateral diplomacy and will hopefully be more conducive to peace than invasion. This involves actually talking to Iran, working with the different actors, yet still acting as a strong ally of Israel. Obama will likely have greater success with this than his predecessor did. The hawk-like actions of President Bush and his administration greatly tarnished the sincerity of Mr. Bush to bring peace to the Middle East.

Lastly, the recent eight years have seen the United States drift away from many of its European allies (save Britain of course). Much of this falling out has concerned the US invasion of Iraq as well as other hawkish actions of President Bush. President Obama must reach out to these disgruntled allies and re-build ties with them. One easy way that this could be accomplished is to end the recent trend towards unilateralism by the United States. European states, because of their history mired with warfare, are stong proponents of multilateralism, especially using the United Nations framework and not just the NATO alliance. The United States must put greater trust and effort into the United Nations system rather than move unilaterally if it doesn't get the response it desires. Regaining this favour will be critical in the upcoming years for the United States and Obama if it is to rebuild its international image and reputation.

Funny enough, especially given its attention in foreign policy debates during the Canadian election, China has remained almost a non-issue in discussions of future US foreign policy. I have not heard much from President-elect Obama on the topic of China and am curious as to what, if any, plans he has for US relations with the world's most populus country.

There is little doubt that the next four years will be transformational for the United States, and subsequently for the international community. I do not think Mr. Obama's lack of practical experience in international relations will affect this. His intelligence and charisma will help to rebuild US relations with foreign leaders and citizens and will be an inspirational leader for the United States.

- blenCOWe