US policy towards Africa: The Bush legacy and the Obama administration

摘要

This article discusses the Bush administration’s African policy legacy andnits implications for the Obama administration. Many have argued that thenevents of 9/11 led the administration to view the African subcontinent differently,nand that the US has altered its conception of national interests innthe region. The tripling of American foreign aid to the region is noteworthy.nAFRICOM’s creation also suggests a policy shift. The article is nonethelessnsceptical that these changes represent a paradigmatic shift in policy towardsnAfrica, rather than a partial and inconsistent adjustment made possible by anconjunction of quite specific circumstances. Indeed, these circumstancesnprovided an opportunity to redefine US foreign policy towards the region,nwhich the Bush administration largely failed to do. The article argues thatnthe weight of the American diplomatic presence in the region has continuednto decline, because of the worsening institutional fragmentation in the foreignnpolicy apparatus, contradictions in policy, and the decline in the StatenDepartment’s institutional capacity. As the Obama administration definesnUS policy in the region, it must address most of the same conundrums as itsnpredecessors, but with less leverage than past administrations and constrainednby the fiscal effects of the worst recession in sixty years.