International Relations Commons^™

Revolution, Regime Change, And Rosewater: The United States’ Role In The Arab Spring, Grace Lewis

Capstone Showcase

This thesis seeks to determine which international relations theory best explains the United States involvement in the Arab Spring, and to ascertain if the goals set by those theories were met. Through the literature, I determine that two theories offer reasonable yet competing explanations of US involvement, and that these theories are first, defensive realism, and second, democratic peace theory. I employ the analytic method of pattern matching to compare each theory against the empirical record. In my analysis, I match empirical data from five affected countries to determine the strategic importance to the United States of the outcome of …

The History Behind Philippine President Duterte’S Obama Insult, Shelton Woods

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks his mind. He does not back down.

Some believe he took his plain speaking too far this week before leaving the Philippines for a summit in Laos.

Reporters asked how Duterte intended to answer President Obama’s concerns over the more than 1,300 drug suspects killed over the past two months in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. Using a well-known Tagalog obscenity, the Phillipine president called Obama a son of a bitch.

Comparing The Approaches Of The Presidential Candidates, Pierre-Richard Prosper, William W. Burke-White

All Faculty Scholarship

This is a panel discussion between Pierre Prosper, attorney at Arent Fox LLP and William Burke White, Deputy Dean at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, comparing the approaches and priorities of U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney regarding foreign policy.

Considered A Foreign Policy Neophyte, Barack Obama Emerges As One Of The Nation’S Most Competent Commanders In Chief, Howard Manly

Trotter Review

During the 2008 presidential campaign, the main criticism against Barack Obama was that he was too green to lead America’s foreign policy and military.

It was a charge that Republican conservatives made against Democratic candidates with predictable frequency and had become a proven winning strategy after Ronald Reagan steamrolled perceived military bumbler Jimmy Carter in 1980. Conventional wisdom suggested that strategy would work even better against Obama.

In a move that foreshadowed his military decision-making, Obama authorized within the first four months of his administration the military rescue of Richard Phillips, the American sea captain taken hostage by pirates in …

War Powers In The Obama Administration, Ryan Hendrickson

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

With the arrival of a new American president in 2009, the power and constitutional authority of the commander in chief to engage in military action remains as relevant as ever. Barack Obama inherited a war in Iraq, has worked with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to initiate a 17,000 American combat troop surge in Afghanistan in March 2009 and another increase of 30,000 personnel later that year, more than doubling the total American presence. He also permitted American Navy Seals to use force against Somali pirates in the first months of his presidency. In addition, nuclear development and proliferation concerns …

War Powers In The Obama Administration, Ryan C. Hendrickson

Ryan C. Hendrickson

With the arrival of a new American president in 2009, the power and constitutional authority of the commander in chief to engage in military action remains as relevant as ever. Barack Obama inherited a war in Iraq, has worked with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to initiate a 17,000 American combat troop surge in Afghanistan in March 2009 and another increase of 30,000 personnel later that year, more than doubling the total American presence. He also permitted American Navy Seals to use force against Somali pirates in the first months of his presidency. In addition, nuclear development and proliferation concerns …

War Powers In The Obama Administration, Ryan C. Hendrickson Dr.

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

With the arrival of a new American president in 2009, the power and constitutional authority of the commander in chief to engage in military action remains as relevant as ever. Barack Obama inherited a war in Iraq, has worked with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to initiate a 17,000 American combat troop surge in Afghanistan in March 2009 and another increase of 30,000 personnel later that year, more than doubling the total American presence. He also permitted American Navy Seals to use force against Somali pirates in the first months of his presidency. In addition, nuclear development and proliferation concerns …

Human Rights Pragmatism Under Obama, Sonia Cardenas

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Bypassing realists and idealists, President Obama has staked out a boldly pragmatic approach to human rights. Critics depict the policy shift as “the downfall of human rights” and a set of “empty promises.” The problem is not with Obama’s embrace of pragmatism, or his rejection of ideology, to advance human rights. The problem is in the emphasis: human rights pragmatism should not privilege external inducements over vital on-the-ground domestic realities.

The Bush And The Obama Administrations And The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 2001-2009, Laura Simon Espinalt

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis’ aim is to determine whether or not the Obama administration had a chance to produce a more effective foreign policy for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict approach used by the Bush administration. The thesis analyzed the two administrations’ foreign policies toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and compare the diplomacy used by Bust throughout his administration and the diplomacy used by Obama during his first year in office. The requirements that embody good negotiations from a problem-solving perspective and comparison to how the Bush and the Obama administrations have approached the conflict are examined. It is concluded that in order for a …

Hope Over Experience?, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Writing about US human rights policy from the outside is always a disconcerting experience. All bets are off, and all assumptions are turned on their head. Assumptions from the South looking North are that, rhetoric aside, US interests rarely if ever feature human rights protection and promotion in first place. What’s more, they have very frequently featured the opposite: dirty tricks, torture and rendition were sadly familiar to students of Latin American history long before Guantanamo. The Clinton years went some way towards reining in the more blatant contradictions of the 1980s, but they also set in train the easy …

Change We Can Believe In?, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

We were warned to temper our high hopes for a bold new Obama era of human rights. After all, President Obama would have “a lot on his plate”: a serious economic crisis, high unemployment, over forty million people without health insurance, “two wars,” global volatility. But it’s very hard not to be dismayed by some of the continuities from the Bush to the Obama administration, as well as by some Janus-faced policy decisions with damning human rights implications. When it comes to US-Latin America relations, such decisions include: professing support for progressive immigration reform while expanding regressive anti-immigration measures; claiming …

From Inspiring Hope To Taking Action: Obama And Human Rights, Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

While President George H. Bush spoke of a new world order, and his “misunderestimated” son mangled the English language at countless press conferences, with Barack Obama the USA now has a talented orator as a president. There is a new word order. But does the new and skillful rhetoric match the reality when it comes to human rights?

December Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly (September, 2009).

and

Does Obama believe in human rights? By Bret Stephens. The Wall Street Journal. October 19, 2009.

The Statesman's Dilemma: Peace Or Justice? Or Neither?, Henry Krisch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as I sat down to comment on President Obama and human rights, I glanced today's (November 19, 2009) The New York Times and found several opinion essays-careful in fact, thoughtful in tone, reasonable in argument-critical of Obama's approach during his recent visit to China toward Chinese human rights violations (mainly concerning Tibet but including also imprisoned lawyers, internet censorship, and persecution of Falun Gong.) The essayists considered various tactics for exerting American pressure on China regarding human rights. Common to all of them was a tone of rueful admiration for the political and diplomatic skill with which China fended …