America and the World After Bush: Diplomacy and Security

Barack Obama has been president for more than 24 hours now.  America is once again beloved by one and all.  Hubris and overreach are things of the past, as the inmates of Gitmo have been freed and the troops are all home from Iraq, participating in rebuilding the infrastructure at home.   Or, certainly, change is in the air.

As we wait for the Obama administration to settle in and finish whatever remains of the above tasks, we continue our look at the post-Bush era and Thomas Barnett‘s forthcoming Great Powers: America and the World After Bush.  Rather than continuing a chapter-by-chapter treatment, today’s installment will look at Chapter 5: “The Diplomatic Realignment: Rebranding the Team of Rivals” and Chapter 6, “The Security Realignment: Rediscovering Diplomacy, Defense, and Development.”

We need a rethink our grand strategy, which Barnett defines as a “diplomatic approach to shaping this age.”  Because of our rule as the global Leviathan, it should be “mostly about trying to shape every other state’s grand strategy.”   Our main problem at the moment is “unreasonable expectations for immediate success.”

Continued at New AtlanticistAmerica and the World After Bush: Diplomacy and Security

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Simone says:

    He started well, but everybody compares him, it seems, to G.W.B., which was one of the worst presidents.
    We will know more in 4 or 8 years.