Over the past three months the style and tone of US foreign policy have changed in important and positive ways. Barack Obama, certainly the most cosmopolitan and attractive president the United States has had in living memory, has acted on a number of fronts to deescalate international tensions and repair the US’ deeply tarnished international image.
Among other initiatives, he has shifted the US’ position on global warming, made gestures towards the plural worlds of Islam, opened the door for negotiations with Iran, relaxed relations with Cuba somewhat, and showed restraint in his dealings with Russia. At domestic level, he has reversed some of the more egregious abuses of power of the Bush administration, notably by repudiating the use of torture.
These are significant moves. Yet President Obama may well be losing a historic moment of opportunity to fundamentally shift the logic of US foreign policy by demilitarising and moving to promote effective and humane global governance. Recent decisions, in particular the announcement by Defense Secretary Robert Gates of a new focus on global counterinsurgency, suggest that military power is still at the core of US international policy. Indeed, despite announced cutbacks of some costly weapons programmes, the 2010 FY military budget, at $663.7 billion, is slightly higher than the 2009 budget. (When George W Bush came to power the US military budget was $294 billion, in constant 2000 dollars.)
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