Conflict Management and Peacebuilding: Pillars of a New American Grand Strategy

By Volker C. Franke

In June 2009, President Obama traveled to Egypt to make good on a campaign promise to mend U.S. relations with the Muslim world and to repair America’s tarnished image in the world. Immediately after taking over the White House, President Obama had launched a series of foreign policy initiatives—e.g., ordering the closure of the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; sending additional troops to Afghanistan while ordering the withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq; promoting democratic reform, economic development, and peace and security across the Middle East and North Africa; and negotiating and ratifying a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia