Obama's Africa Policy

The Limits of Symbolic Power

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2097735
AutoresP T Zeleza (0000-0002-0737-1862, Loyola Marymount University, autor correspondente)
Ano2013
Volume56
Fascículo2
Páginas165-178
Data de publicação2013-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAfrican Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-0206 • E-ISSN: 1555-2462
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/asr.2013.48
OpenAlexW2107208630
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas15

The election of Barack Obama as the first African-descended president of the United States in 2008 was greeted with euphoria in the U.S. and around the world, including Africa. Little, however, changed in the substance of U.S.-Africa relations. This underscores the limits of the symbolic politics of race and presidential personalities in the face of the structural imperatives of U.S. power and foreign policy in which African interests remain marginal and subordinate to U.S. interests. The article explores the structural contexts of foreign policy-making in the United States and what might be expected from the second Obama administration

Administration (probate law · Face (sociological concept · Foreign policy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Presidential system · Race (biology · Social science · Sociology · African cultural and philosophical studies · Gender Studies · International Development and Aid · Law · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development