The Changes And Continuity Of Foreign Policy Between President Bush And President Obama Through Analysis Of State Of The Union Addresses

This thesis analyzes U.S. foreign and security policies through the nationalidentity mainly on the second term of President George. W. Bush (from2005to2008)and the first term of President Barack Obama (from2009to2012).The method of identity and discourse analysis is taken to address the issue. Thebasis for the of U.S. foreign policy has been understood as stemming from domesticstructures and challenges rather than from external threats, and for that reason themain materials for analysis are both presidents’ State of the Union speeches. Afterstudying the speeches, the thesis will show changes in specific action made by bothpresidents. The assumption is that when the president comes from the other party,some changes in foreign policy should also happen.The keynote discourses from the analysis can be concluded as threats anduni-lateralism for President Bush, and responsible leadership and multi-lateralism forPresident Obama. But the most important term is American exceptionalism, and thathas been agreed by both presidents. Presidential speeches have shown a great numberof changes in foreign and security policies, but the actual decision of policies suggestsmore continuity than change.The thesis concludes that although President Bush was viewed unwelcome by theinternational community at the end of his presidency, and plenty of hopes andexpectations were given to President Obama. However, people have beendisappointed towards the achievements of President Obama at the end of his first term.The research results show that the core of U.S. foreign policy, the Americanexceptionalism has remained the same with presidential change. The country has stillkept its hegemonic position in the world order. The thesis will also conclude that onlythrough changes in national political identity may the U.S. change its attitude towardsthe international community and regain trust and reputation in world politics.