New Liberalism In Obama’s Foreign Policy And The Current American Diplomatic Predicament

Obama was elected U.S. president in 2008. Faced with difficulties from home and abroad, Obama made great efforts to rebuild American image and maintain the leading place in the world. This thesis is intended to study the new characteristics of Obama’s foreign policy by analyzing Obama’s foreign policy towards Mideast countries, Europe and Asia. It concludes that Obama is attempting to rebuild its image to develop multilateral relations. The thesis gives particular attention to the impact of liberalism on American foreign policy in history as well as its impact on Sino-US relations from a unique perspective.The research starts with a conceptual framework by trying to answer questions like: What is new liberalism? What’s the difference between new liberalism and neo-liberalism? Considering liberalism has had great impact on American foreign policy since its independence, it also analyses the relations between liberalism and American foreign policy in history. The research focuses on the following issues:1) The relations between new liberalism and Obama’s policy towards Middle East, Europe and Asia; 2) Three themes of new liberalism in Obama’s foreign policy; 3) The impact of liberalism on the current American diplomatic predicament; 4) The influence of Obama’s foreign policy on the Sino-US relations. Finally, it predicts the trend of American foreign policy and finds better strategy for China’s foreign policy towards America.In today’s multipolar world, interdependence and absolute interests become more important for every country. Obama’s foreign policy has three new liberalist themes in this environment:development, cooperation and disarmament. However, Obama’s new liberalism foreign policy receives many critics and has great effect on American diplomatic predicament. Differing from Bush’s unilateral foreign policy, Obama’s foreign policy relates to developing multilateral relations. Obama fostered relations with Mideast countries, shifted focus of strategic concerns from the Middle East to Asia. On one hand, Obama hesitated to cope with many issues of the Middle East, which led to the growth of terrorism. On the other hand, Obama’s multilateralism foreign policy in Asia did not help America get much benefit. For example, Obama wanted to develop relations with China, but he was still afraid that China’s development would threaten America’s leading role in the Asian-Pacific region. So he intervened in the affairs of South China Sea and Taiwan. Obama’s "Pivot to Asia" strategy did not help America to benefit from Asia, but lost the control of Middle East and Europe which was one of America’s important partners.Liberalism is an important theory in the history of the United States and has great impact on American foreign policy. However, diplomatic concept could change dramatically, while diplomatic action could not. It is vital for Obama’s new liberalism policy to be implemented in a fair and friendly or a complicated external environment. Meanwhile, by analyzing the new liberalism in Obama’s foreign policy and its impact on current American diplomatic predicament, this thesis provides a new perspective for rethinking international environment and foreign policies among many countries.