Leader, Follower, or Spectator? The Role of President Obama in the Arab Spring Uprisings

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10763032
AutoresDaniel S Morey (0000-0001-7416-7645, University of Kentucky, autor de correspondencia), Clayton L Thyne (0000-0001-8676-6223, University of Kentucky), Sarah Hayden (University of Kentucky), Sarah L Hayden (University of Kentucky), Michael B Senters (University of Kentucky)
Año2012
Volumen93
Número5
Páginas1185-1201
Fecha de publicación2012-12-01
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Science Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0038-4941 • E-ISSN: 1540-6237
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00911.x
OpenAlexW1930854684
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas7

Objective President Obama has faced a plethora of challenges both at home and abroad during his first term. While some challenges were inherited, the Arab Spring uprisings provided a new opportunity for him to strengthen America's role as a global leader. Much debate has raged over the way in which Obama dealt with the uprisings. Supporters view Obama's foreign policy as a selling point as he moves toward the 2012 elections, while opponents have condemned him as a follower “leading from behind.” Absent in this debate is an objective attempt to both articulate Obama's foreign policy agenda in both a historical and cross‐national context, and an effort to analyze Obama's reaction to the Arab Spring uprisings vis‐a‐vis other state leaders. This article attempts to rectify these problems to better understand whether Obama was a leader or a follower during the Arab Spring. Methods We begin with a thorough discussion of Obama's foreign policy approach and then present empirical analysis of original data of all state signals during the Arab Spring uprisings. Results Though we find some evidence pointing toward leadership, the bulk of our evidence indicates that Obama was largely either an active spectator or a follower during the uprisings. Conclusion We conclude that, at best, Obama showed weak evidence of leadership during the Arab Spring uprisings

Context (archaeology) · Foreign policy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spring (device) · State (computer science) · History · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law

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