Ruchi Anand authors Chapter on France in The World Views of the Obama Era

Ruchi Anand authored a chapter in the just released book The World Views of the Obama Era. From Hope to Disillusionment (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). This collective volume edited by former AGS faculty member Matthias Maass examines the Obama presidency from fourteen different national perspectives, offering an accumulative global view of the Obama administration's foreign policies and bilateral affairs.

Entitled “A bilan of Eight Obama Years: Between Bush and Trump”, Ruchi Anand's chapter discusses how France evaluates President Obama’s eight year legacy as POTUS from 2008-2016. It first captures the pulse of France’s media reaction to President Obama over the years, giving the sense of the “Obamania” that started the Obama mandate in 2008. It goes on discuss the Obama Doctrine which sets the philosophical and theoretical frame for Obama’s responses and actions on all his major foreign policy highs and lows with its transnational ally, France. Obama’s grand strategy showed a combination of continuity and change from his predecessor, George Bush. The continuity was evident in the goal of US primacy and leadership and the maintenance of a liberal international order that reflected American values. The change was evident in the means that Obama chose to highlight in achieving his said goals. He employed restraint and diplomacy rather than direct use of military force. The Obama years are separated into the Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande years, each of which saw differences of vision or strategy but not of ultimate goals. What we can see through the Sarkozy and Hollande presidencies is that although there were differences of strategy, there was never a break in the harmony of values between the two countries which continue to show a common vision towards international political affairs and its conduct in the spirit of diplomacy and cooperation. None of the differences highlighted above took away from the essence of cordial and supportive Franco-American relations. The chapter concludes that despite the ups and downs, President Obama is still a favorite in France and Europe. What the future holds under President Trump for Franco-American trans-Atlantic ties is still in flux.

Ruchi Anand lives in France, where she teaches international relations and at the American Graduate School in Paris, and participates every year in the Junior Statesmen of America summer program in the United States, at Stanford, Princeton or Yale, which gives her exposure to and insight into both countries.

This book is a sequel to The World Views of the US Presidential Elections 2008, Ed. Matthias Maas, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), where Anand had authored the chapter entitled “Oh La La: Obamania à la Française”, already giving the French perception of Obama’s historic election and early days in power. There should be another sequel regarding Trump's presidency.

More information on the book on the Palgrave Macmillan website