The Geopolitical Discourse of Barack Obama's State of the Union Addresses
Pursuing a Geopolitical Reorientation from the Middle East
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3948629 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Ambrosio (0000-0002-4047-1224, North Dakota State University, corresponding author), Preston Hoepfner (North Dakota State University), Kevin E Thompson (North Dakota State University), Kari Watson (North Dakota State University) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 479-509 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geopolitics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14650045.2017.1414047 |
| OpenAlex | W2781390066 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 19 |
President Barack Obama came to office with the expressed intention of breaking with the geopolitical orientation of his predecessor. Obama argued that George W. Bush overemphasized the Middle East at the expense of the Asia-Pacific region, the war in Afghanistan, rising non-Western states, and domestic affairs. To this end, Obama sought a strategic shift away from the Middle East and toward these other geographic areas. Obama also sought changes to policies which were closely associated with Bush’s focus on the Middle East: counterterrorism, democracy promotion, and foreign military interventions. This article evaluates whether this proposed reorientation away from the Middle East was reflected in Obama’s geopolitical discourse by examining his State of the Union addresses in comparison to those of his predecessor. It finds that these intended changes were largely evident in these speeches in that they exhibited a far greater geographic diversity than Bush’s, reflected adjustments to these policies, and paid substantially more attention to domestic affairs. However, this shift was limited by external events and the Middle East continued to command Obama’s primary focus. These findings reinforce the notion that while leaders seek to shape geopolitical understandings through their discourse, this discourse is in turn restricted by global realities
China · Democracy · Democracy promotion · Democratization · East Asia · Foreign policy · Geopolitics · Middle East · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society
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| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,43 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2023 (5) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |