Independent thinking on international affairs
Chatham House
  Click here for tips on searching
 

 

Rethinking America's International Role

President Barack Obama takes office in the midst of an economic crisis, two wars, and a broad range of transnational threats. To face these challenges, President Obama has called for a new era of domestic responsibility and a renewal of America's global leadership. The world's future prosperity and security need a strong and internationally engaged America, but strong new constraints limit America's potential to assume the kind of international role it has played for the past 60 years.

To prepare for this transition, Chatham House initiated a project on Rethinking America's International Role. This project has drawn on the expertise of senior in-house researchers and Associate Fellows to offer an outside perspective on America's future capacity for world leadership. It evaluates current US foreign policy, assesses promising areas of future US influence, and suggests specific ways for US engagement to make an impact on global and regional challenges.

Chatham House Report

The key findings of the project are summarized in a Chatham House report, Ready to Lead? Rethinking America's Role in a Changed World, written by Director Dr Robin Niblett. The report argues that America must rethink, not just renew, its approach to global leadership. It suggests that the world still needs an America that aspires to lead, but that the US will no longer be able to drive solutions to many of the world's most pressing global challenges through the force of its leadership alone. President Obama must therefore invest in a new style of leadership that is more targeted, inclusive and restrained in order to benefit both America's citizens and the world beyond its borders.

Approaching the subject from a non-American perspective, the report aims to offer a counterpoint to the extensive analysis and sets of ideas developed by institutes and individuals in the US during the recent presidential election campaign and transition to the Obama presidency. It is also designed to be an initial response from outside America to the global strategy and policy outlines of the Obama administration. The report highlights the recurring themes that have emerged in the course of the project, and draws together a series of practical policy recommendations.

Forthcoming Book

The report will be followed by book later in 2009, edited by Dr Robin Niblett, published by Wiley-Blackwell in the Chatham House Papers series. 'America and a Changed World: A Question of Leadership' will explore the thematic and regional issues raised by the project in greater depth including through:

  • overviews of the global challenges of insurgency and counter-insurgency, energy security and environmental issues, the economic crisis, and reinforcing the international legal order;
  • regional evaluations of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Europe, Africa, East and South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East;
  • country-specific analyses of Russia and China and their relationships with the US.

Further Resources

Articles
Event Transcript and Audio

Members only contentRegaining the Initiative: Opportunities for the US Under President Obama
Thursday 22 January 2009 17:30 to 18:30
Speaker: Dr Robin Niblett

Contact

For more information about the forthcoming publications please contact Nicholas Bouchet.

For more information about the project please contact Robin Niblett.