Abstract:
The election of Barack Obama as the first African-descended president
of the United States in 2008 was greeted with euphoria in the U.S. and around
the world, including Africa. Little, however, changed in the substance of U.S.–
Africa relations. This underscores the limits of the symbolic politics of race and
presidential personalities in the face of the structural imperatives of U.S. power
and foreign policy in which African interests remain marginal and subordinate
to U.S. interests. The article explores the structural contexts of foreign policy making
in the United States and what might be expected from the second Obama
administration.
