Limited Achievements Obama’s Foreign Policy, by Zaki Laïdi

Limited Achievements  : Obama’s Foreign Policy
By Zaki Laïdi
Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy
Palgrave Macmillan, September 2012

Barack Obama is inspired by a realist vision of the global order. His ambition is to preserve America’s great power status and make it acceptable to the rest of the world. He no longer wants his country to serve as the world’s policeman. However, he has no intention of letting another country displace the United States. His scope of action lies between these two limits: he has no grand design, nor is he willing to take any great risks. Through an analysis of the general principles of Obama’s foreign policy, LaIdi shows how Obama has charted a realist course in the Middle East, in Europe, in diplomacy, and in war.

‘This outstanding book manages to do something that few other works on Obama’s foreign policy have been able to do so far…. »
—Michael Cox, co-director of IDEAS, The London School of Economics

« With the advantages afforded by his perch on the other side of the Atlantic, LaIdi offers a controversial take on the evolution of US foreign policy on Obama’s watch…. »
—Charles A. Kupchan, professor of International Relations, Georgetown University and Whitney H. Shepardson Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

« Limited Achievements is deeply thoughtful, diligently researched, and delightfully readable. LaIdi has developed clear metrics by which to judge Obama’s foreign policy…. »
—John Peterson, professor of International Politics, University of Edinburgh

More  information on the Palgrave Macmillan website

Zaki Laidi is a professor of International Relations at Sciences Po and researcher at Centre d’études européennes. See his publications.