Obama’s Elusive Foreign Policy “Doctrine” and its Impact on the MENA Region

Abstract

Even from his first inauguration, US President Obama’s lack of a single overarching foreign
policy “doctrine” has been the subject of a constant and fierce debate among analysts and
policy-makers alike. Despite suffering severe criticism from staunch idealists as well as their
realists counterparts, the Obama administration has actually opted for a distinct, nondoctrinal,
case-by-case approach to international affairs. This strategy, which can be described
as one of engagement and persuasion, endorses multilateral action and it is based on the
necessities of the emergence of a multi-polar, post-American world. Obama’s grand strategy,
puts emphasis on the developments in the Southeast Asia region, thus depriving other parts
of the world of total US commitment, most importantly the, plagued by the reverberations
of the ‘Arab Spring’, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Suffering the
consequences of unprecedented political, societal and demographic change, the MENA region
will be at the forefront of international security concerns for the coming years, bearing the
brunt of a potential shift in US foreign policy.