Democracy Promotion and Human Rights in US Foreign Policy

The origins of this special issue are found in the theme of the fifth annual meeting of the British International Studies Association (BISA) Working Group on US Foreign Policy, which took place at the University of Leeds, September 2010. At that time President Obama was approaching the mid-point of his first term in office. The obvious question to ask was whether his presidency had changed anything at all, or had the Bush administration’s approach to foreign relations persisted. All but one of the articles in this special issue were presented at that conference and all of them address this question, either by providing background to our understanding, or specifically addressing the question of Obama’s impact. The conference theme of democracy promotion and human rights in foreign policy was designed to isolate the kind of evidence that helps us to address the question of continuity or change. These concepts and their place in foreign policy have, after all, been the subject of fierce debate since the founding fathers based the United States on principles that they believed to be universal and therefore exportable. It is generally assumed that liberals like Obama advocate policies designed to advance the democratic cause worldwide. They reject narrow definitions of the national interest based exclusively on America’s material wellbeing; and indeed Obama seemingly reinforced this on the campaign trail with his promise to restore America’s moral standing, so that it ‘is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom’.