Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

Hope, Change, Pragmatism

Analyzing Obama’s Grand Strategy

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jacob Shively

    1. University of West Florida, USA, Pensacola, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers an examination and assessment of the Obama administration’s grand strategy to pursue and achieve national interests in the global landscape
  • Employs accessible analytical frameworks and narrative case studies to analyze Obama’s strategic vision and the extent to which he was able to realize his goals
  • Evaluates grand strategy across three specific pivotal decision periods: early precedents (2009), the Arab Spring (2011), and challenges from Russia as well as ISIS (2014)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Jacob Shively
    Pages 1-24

  3. Hope, Change, Pragmatism

    • Jacob Shively
    Pages 25-45

  4. Reluctant Revolutionary

    • Jacob Shively
    Pages 47-76

  5. Holding the Line

    • Jacob Shively
    Pages 77-99

  6. Pragmatic Internationalism

    • Jacob Shively
    Pages 101-118

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 119-122
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book seeks to uncover a clear picture of Barack Obama’s grand strategy, the overarching methods applied to identify and achieve national interests in a global setting. Pressed for an “Obama doctrine” during his final years in office, the President claimed a simple international relations approach: applying all tools at his disposal before resorting for military force. Critics, however, remain unimpressed. They charge the administration with strategic incoherence and weak leadership. Stepping away from ideological and theoretical commitments, Shively applies a simple framework for grand strategy, one that also deepens our systematic understanding. After untangling a complex history and narrating three cases of tumult in 2009, 2011, and 2014, Shively characterizes Obama’s grand strategy as “pragmatic internationalism” and argues that it was a promising but poorly implemented approach.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of West Florida, USA, Pensacola, USA

    Jacob Shively

About the author

Jacob Shively is Assistant Professor of Government at the University of West Florida, USA. His current research examines grand strategy and US foreign policy, as well as security issues related to new technologies such as lethal drones and cyber security.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Hope, Change, Pragmatism

  • Book Subtitle: Analyzing Obama’s Grand Strategy

  • Authors: Jacob Shively

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57699-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York

  • eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-57697-2Published: 28 July 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-95417-9Published: 30 May 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-57699-6Published: 27 July 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 122

  • Topics: US Politics

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation