US Presidents as Foreign Policy Actors: George W. Bush and Barack Obama

Ovaj rad se bavi usporedbom vanjskih politika predsjednika Georgea W. Busha i predsjednika Baracka Obame. Njihove vanjske politike se u radu uspoređuju na temelju tri ključne točke: unilateralizam nasuprot multilateralizmu u vanjskoj politici prema UN-u i NATO-u i na temelju njihove sklonosti prema korištenju sile u vanjskoj politici. U radu se prvo opisuje institucionalni okvir američkog vanjskopolitičkog odlučivanja kako bi se prikazala uloga predsjednika u tom procesu, za koju se tvrdi da je veća i bitnija u odnosu na ulogu ostalih aktera. S obzirom na to, može se govoriti o vanjskoj politici određenog američkog predsjednika. Na temelju usporedbe vanjskih politika Busha i Obame, zaključuje se da je Obama napravio zaokret u odnosu na Busha jer je za razliku od njega prigrlio multilateralizam. Ipak, ne može se reći da je bio manje sklon upotrebi sile što je vidljivo u njegovoj intervenciji u Libiju i upotrebi bespilotnih letjelica u borbi protiv ISIL-a. Glavna razlika je u načinu na koji su koristili silu, pri čemu je Bush djelovao unilateralno uz pomoć koalicije voljnih, dok je Obama naglašavao multilateralno djelovanje.In this paper, the author compares President George W. Bush's foreign policy with President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Their foreign policies are compared on three key points: unilateralism versus multilateralism in their foreign policies towards the UN and NATO, and their tendency towards using force. This paper first describes the institutional frame of American foreign policy-making process with the purpose of showing the role of the president in that process, which is claimed to be bigger and more important than the role of other actors. Having this in mind, one may refer to the American foreign policy as a certain president's foreign policy. Based on the comparison of Bush's and Obama's foreign policies, it can be concluded that President Obama made a turn when compared to President Bush because he embraced multilateralism. However, it cannot be said that President Obama was less prone to using force because of his intervention in Libya and use of drones against the ISIS. The main difference between them is the way in which they were using force. While Bush was acting unilaterally, Obama embraced multilateral action