In November 2008 Barack Obama was elected as President of the United States after a campaign that promised change and renewal. Many in the United States – and Europe – hoped for a new beginning. But what has been achieved? The nineteen essays in this book provide a timely assessment of the ‘Obama Effect’ in transatlantic relations during the first years of his administration. Ranging from Obama’s importance within US domestic politics to his impact on specific policy areas (national security, international law, the environment) and regions (Middle East, South Asia), the book combines perspectives from the United States and across the European continent to present a unique multi-layered assessment of Obama’s political influence and the current state of play within US-European relations.

Giles Scott-Smith is a senior researcher with the Roosevelt Study Center and Associate Professor in International Relations at the Roosevelt Academy, both in Middelburg, the Netherlands. At the beginning of 2009 he was appointed the Ernst van der Beugel Chair in the Diplomatic History of Transatlantic Relations since WWII at Leiden University.

Leseprobe

Contents: Giles Scott-Smith: Preface – Giles Scott-Smith: Introduction – Rob Kroes: Barack Hussein Obama. His Powers of Language, His Language of Power – Dennis Hickey: From Marginal to Mainstream. Barack Hussein Obama and the Enigma of American Identity – Marcel Wissenburg: Obama the Green? A Transatlantic Environmentalist Perspective – Jamie Shea: The View from NATO – Thomas Gijswijt: The Decline of the West? Transatlantic Relations in the Obama Era – Ruud Janssens: An Analysis of the Future. Defence Planning and Transatlantic Relations – Marianne van Leeuwen: Competitors or Partners? The United States and Europe in the Middle East – Moritz Baumgärtel: A Long Way Down. European Expectations, Domestic Barriers and the «Obama Effect» in International Climate Change Policy – Anna Zakharchenko: The «Obama Effect» and the Possibility of Strategic Commonality between the US, Europe and Russia – Katarzyna Pisarska: From Great Atlanticists to Great Europeans? The Impact of Obama’s Foreign Policy on Central Europe – László Marácz: Pressing the Reset Button on US-Hungary Relations – Ruud van Dijk: The End of a Special Relationship. Why There Was No «Obama Effect» in Dutch Afghanistan Policy, 2009-2010 – Beatrice de Graaf/Constant Hijzen: Bound by Silver Cords. The Dutch Intelligence Community in a Transatlantic Context – Manuella Glaziou Tavares: France, «Obamania», and the Issue of Race – Aaron Winter: Race, Empire, and the British-American «Special Relationship» in the Obama Era – Kasey L. McCall-Smith: Keeping Promises? Obama and Human Rights – James Staab/Donald H. Wallace: President Obama’s Impact on Transatlantic Legal Discourse – Debra D. Burke: The Arms Trade, Export Controls, and the «Obama Effect» – Marianne F.H. Hirsch Ballin: National Security, Information Privacy, and Transatlantic Data Exchange – Giles Scott-Smith: Conclusion.