Between a rock and a hard place: Trump’s half-realist, half-mercantilist foreign policy in the Middle East

<p>American foreign policy under President Trump in the Middle East and North Africa has been a policy rollercoaster, sometimes in line of continuity with policies adopted by the previous administration, sometimes with violent breaks from the past, sometimes apparently brought about by materia...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ruth Hanau Santini
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Università del Salento 2018-07-01
Series:Interdisciplinary Political Studies
Online Access:http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/idps/article/view/19340
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Summary:<p>American foreign policy under President Trump in the Middle East and North Africa has been a policy rollercoaster, sometimes in line of continuity with policies adopted by the previous administration, sometimes with violent breaks from the past, sometimes apparently brought about by material interest calculations, other times supposedly driven by personal politics and symbolic gestures. All this has happened without a clearcut grand strategy, but rather though <em>ad hoc</em> decisions and policy U-turns, and, in bureaucratic politics’ terms, with different parts of the administration contradicting one another. It represents a unique combination of mercantilism, realism, personalized politics which, most remarkably, is likely to be shaped by structural and contextual factors more than strategic and political intentions.</p>
ISSN:2039-8573