Obama and US policy towards Africa: A study in failure?

When Barack Obama came into office in January 2009, there were high expectations that he would change the policy towards Africa. It has not happened. Critics maintain that the current policy is not only a continuation of the policy of George W. Bush but has also become increasingly ‘militarized’. The paper argues that it is not adequate to describe US Africa policy as having become ‘militarized’. It is too incoherent and too inconsistent to possibly describe it by such a term. The policy is much more country specific and case specific depending on the coalition trying to influence policy-making at a given moment towards a given issue or country/region. This type of policy-making is to be explained by the nature of the American decision-making system dealing with Africa. It is pluralistic and open to all kinds of pressures and interests. And not to forget, the Africa policy is a bipartisan issue in the USA.