The impact of transformation in United States of America (USA) foreign policy approach from the Bush to the Obama adminstration on Middle East peace and security: The case of Iraq (2000 - 2013)

Abstract

The idea of security in International Relations has for a long time been identified by the vague pursuance of national interests by states. Traditionally, concepts of security focused on the aspect of military protection of a state’s borders and territory. This view has changed over the years to focus on more on human security. The United States (US) foreign policy since the cold war, through the demise of the Soviet Union in the 90s, up to the advent of US unipolarity, has gone through corresponding changes, to guarantee the protection of US citizens at home and abroad. After the September 11 (9/11) terrorist attacks on the US, the Bush administration adopted a pragmatic realist basis of foreign policy. The assumption of power by the Obama administration however ushered in a more progressive liberal tone to US foreign policy in the Middle East. This change in foreign policy approach was expected by the US population, the Iraqi people and the international community, to bring about a matching change in the state of peace and security in the Middle East. The Region has however remained gripped in violent conflict, despite these changes. This study focuses on the effects of the transformation from the Bush administration’s neo-conservative unilateral approach to the Obama administration’s multi-lateral approach in US foreign policy in the Middle East Peace. Focus will be on Iraq between the years 2000-2013. Qualitative research methodology, focusing on documentary search will be the main tool of research in this study. This methodology will be used to explore the underlying principles of US foreign policy in the Middle East which have always been understood to be; safeguarding US access to Middle East oil reserves’, supporting Israel as a strategic ally in the region, prevent any state from dominating the region and spreading of democracy and human rights.

This study reflects the view that the prevailing conditions of insecurity in Middle East are despite the diplomatic maneuvers adopted by the Obama administration in US foreign policy. Currently in the Middle East, there is continued sectarian violence in Iraq, the ongoing war in Syria and the continued Israeli-Palestine conflict over the West Bank, is nowhere near a peaceful resolve. This study recommends that any meaningful drive towards peace and security in the Middle East should address the divide on ethnic and sectarian lines as the clashes of these groups are leading to escalating conflict.