Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis aims to measure President Barack Obama’s level of presidential agency in foreign policy, in order to determine whether he will be able to achieve his ambitious goal of renewing US leadership in foreign affairs. To do so, this thesis will make use of a two-level analysis: The primary level of analysis will focus on the office of the president, and the constitutionally determined formal powers it confers on the president. It will also study the constraints placed on the president by the powers conferred on other branches of government, as well as the institutional and societal context in which the president must function. The second level of analysis will focus on the president as an individual, and the role that a number of personality traits and informal powers play in presidential agency. The central hypothesis of this thesis is that while all presidents are exposed to roughly the same set of institutional constraints, an individual president’s level of agency depends on their utilisation of a number of informal powers. In order to measure this hypothesis, a five-point framework will be developed by abstracting from the existing literature on informal powers. This framework will consist of five criteria believed to be a prerequisite for a high degree of presidential agency: (1) a favourable disposition to foreign affairs; (2) the ability to provide strong leadership in policy formulation; (3) a command over Pennsylvania Avenue politics; (4) the utilisation of the role of public opinion maker; (5) and the utilisation of the role of global statesmen. While Obama will be shown to do well against the framework, his lack of tangible accomplishments will be shown to stem from the magnitude of the challenges he faces; the larger foreign policy context in which he came to office; and the deep-seated distrust of the motives underlying US foreign policy in certain regions. Furthermore, the time constraints he faces, and the impact of the election cycle, will be identified as a limit to the pace of implementation and the extent of the changes he is able to make. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis is om President Barack Obama se vlak van presidensiële agentskap in buitelandse beleid te meet om te bepaal of hy sy ambisieuse doelwit om die VSA se leierskap in buitelandse sake te hernu, sal bereik. ’n Tweevlakkige analise sal vir hierdie doel aangewend word. Die analise sal op ’n primêre vlak fokus op die president as ampsdraer, en die formele magte wat deur die grondwet aan hom toegeken word. Dit sal ook die beperkinge wat op die president geplaas word as gevolg van die magte wat aan die ander takke van die regering toegeken word, bestudeer. Verder sal die institusionele en maatskaplike konteks waarin die president moet fuksioneer in ag geneem word. Die tweede vlak van analise sal op die president as individu fokus, en die rol wat sekere informele magte en persoonlikheidseienskappe in presidensiële agentskap speel. Die sentrale hipotese van hierdie tesis, is dat alhoewel alle presidente deur dieselfde institusionele beperkinge geaffekteer word, ’n spesifieke president se vlak van agentskap afhang van sy gebruik van informele magte. Hierdie hipotese sal gemeet woord deur ’n vyfpuntraamwerk te ontwikkel wat gebruik maak van die bestaande literatuur op presidensiële agentskap. Dié raamwerk bestaan uit vyf kriteria wat benodig word om ’n hoë vlak van agentskap te handhaaf: (1) ’n positiewe gesindheid teenoor buitelandse sake; (2) die vermoë om sterk leierskap in die beleidsformuleringsproses uit te oefen; (3) meesterskap oor Pennsyvanie Avenue politiek; (4) die gebruik van die rol van openbare ’n opinie maker; (5) en die gebruik van die rol van ’n globale staatsman. Die tesis sal wys dat alhoewel Obama suksesvol is wanneer hy teen die raamwerk gemeet word, sy tekort aan prestasies toegeskryf kan word aan die omvang van die probleme wat hy moet oplos; die groter buitelandse konteks waarin hy verkies is; en die wantroue in die VSA se onderliggende motiewe in sekere streke. Verder sal die tydsbeperkinge op sy presidentskap en die impak van die verkiesingsiklus geïdentifiseer word as ’n bepreking op die spoed waarteen hy veranderinge kan implementeer.

In my thesis, I analyze the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama in 1989-2010. Upon comparing their China policies, I concluded that the approach of the United States to China is inconsistent, mainly due to the changing patterns of power, conflicting value systems and the growing importance of commercial interests in the relationship.

The current president of the United States, Donald Trump, has been identified as the reason for a large shift in American foreign policy towards a doctrine closer to that of political realism. This claim has led us to examine if this transformation could be detected and described if we analyzed and compared Trump’s foreign policy doctrine with his predecessor, Barack Obama, through the lens Thomas Hobbes, whose ideas are at the core of the three modern schools of political realism. Accordingly, in this thesis, we deduce an analytical framework from the original corpus of Hobbes, where anarchy is divided into moral and empirical variables, identified as the primary factors for behavior in international settings. This is then applied inductively via a comparative qualitative content analysis to two primary documents, the National Security Strategies of 2010 containing the foreign policy doctrine of Obama, and the National Security Strategy of 2017 containing the doctrine of Trump. Our thesis shows a large shift in how the Presidents view the world in moral terms, or how they see it fit for the American executive to act on the international stage. And a relatively minor shift in empirical terms, or their perception of the foundational reality of the world system which they both consider to be of an anarchical nature closely connected to the theoretical model presented by our interpretation of Hobbes

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:14:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Mompean.pdf: 2058401 bytes, checksum: cffa616e830024addd5c796fb1361bb5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research investigates how The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Folha de S. Paulo built in their contracts of communication some media themes during the election campaign for the US President in 2008, which culminated with the victory of the first American black president. We focused our attention on understanding how such newspapers approached the political position of Barack Obama against his Republican opponent, John McCain. The reports of both US newspapers plus those of the Brazilian one have been discursively analyzed in a time frame that goes from June to November of that year. The aim was to investigate the themes present in the reports and editorials and how their discourses have been built around Barack Obama personality. It was also analyzed the dissemination of narratives structured by the American media in the Brazilian newspaper. The discursive analysis chosen had the support of theories of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, whose bases on discourse and hegemony were essential to understand the discursive formations adopted by the print media and the political campaigns of both candidates, the Democratic and the Republican. From this approach we found the nodal points around which have been constituted the discourses of confrontation of both candidates according to the newspapers. As a result, we made explicit the discursive strategies employed in communicative contracts listed in our corpus as an effort to understand the construction of the so-called political myth "Obama" in the print media. It is expected that this research could contribute to deepen the discussion about the press coverage once the presidential election in the United States causes great interest in the worldwide media, also influencing the global news production / Esta pesquisa investiga como os jornais The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times e Folha de S.Paulo construíram em seus contratos de comunicação os temas midiáticos durante a campanha eleitoral para a presidência dos Estados Unidos em 2008, que culminou com a vitória do primeiro presidente negro norte-americano. Centramos a atenção em compreender como os jornais abordaram a postura política de Barack Obama frente ao seu adversário republicano, John McCain. Foram analisadas discursivamente as reportagens dos dois jornais norte-americanos e do brasileiro, em um recorte temporal que compreende os meses de junho a novembro daquele ano. O objetivo foi investigar as temáticas presentes nas reportagens e editoriais e como os discursos foram construídos em relação a Barack Obama. Também foi analisada a ocorrência da disseminação destas narrativas estruturadas pela mídia norte-americana no jornal brasileiro. A análise discursiva escolhida ampara-se nas teorias de Ernesto Laclau e Chantal Mouffe, cujos fundamentos sobre discurso e hegemonia foram essenciais para a compreensão das formações discursivas adotadas pela mídia impressa e pelas campanhas políticas dos candidatos democrata e republicano. A partir desse enfoque encontramos os pontos nodais ao redor dos quais se constituíram os discursos de enfrentamento dos candidatos nos jornais. Como resultado, explicitamos as estratégias discursivas empregadas nos contratos comunicativos enunciados em nosso corpus, em um esforço de entendimento de como ocorreu a construção do mito político Obama na mídia impressa em questão. A expectativa é que esta pesquisa contribua para aprofundar o debate sobre a cobertura jornalística realizada pela mídia impressa, visto que o pleito presidencial nos Estados Unidos desperta grande interesse nos meios de comunicação de todo mundo e influencia toda a produção jornalística mundial

The aim of this thesis is to look at all the factors that affect not only the course of the Middle East conflict, but also internal and foreign policy of the United States. The aim is to describe the situation of the Middle East conflict and its links to the unflagging efforts and policies of the United States, especially in the last few years by U.S. President Barack Obama. The term Middle East conflict was for the purpose of this thesis reduced to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Obama administration's role in the peace process.

<p><strong>Essay in Political Science, C-level, by Camila Alvarez Cea, spring semester 2010.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Tutor: Alf Sundin</strong></p><p><strong>“Reality or a Political Mirage? – A Study of the Swedish Press Views on the Health Insurance Reform in the USA”</strong></p><p> </p><p>The purpose of this essay is partly to examine whether the picture that Swedish press presents of the health insurance reform in the US, which is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Act bill, will be of crucial importance to the possibilities that the American population has to receive health insurance. The main research question is accordingly: <em>“Does the picture that Swedish press presents of the health insurance reform in the USA, seem like something that will be of radical importance to the possibilities of the population to receive healthcare?”</em> The purpose is also to examine in which model (demand or market) the opinions of the Swedish press fits. This purpose will be answered by using three specific questions asking whether their opinions differ when it comes to three criterions: organization, financing/resources and delivery systems. These criterions come from a model from Milton I. Roemer’s book “National health systems of the world,” which also is the theoretical foundation of this essay.</p><p> </p><p>The methodological approach of this essay is a qualitative text analysis along with an analysis chart, where the three criterions have been examined from the reporting of the four Swedish newspapers chosen for this essay. The conclusions that have been reached from the analysis chart are that the opinions differ greatly within Swedish press, and that the picture that Swedish press presents of the health insurance reform is that it will become easier for the American population to receive health care.</p>

On January 8th, 2011 tragedy struck in Tucson, Arizona. A gunman opened fire on Representative Gabrielle Giffords' "Congress on Your Corner" event, wounding thirteen and killing six ("Arizona Shooting"). Four days later, President Obama spoke to a grieving crowd at the University of Arizona's McKale Memorial Center. This study seeks to demonstrate how the dramatistic process and the pentad provide insight into how Obama guides the nation through the process of relieving the guilt. Specifically, Obama's call for mortification instead of scapegoating as the means for victimage is examined in light of the context and organizational structure of the speech. In addition, a pentadic analysis of the speech is conducted, showing Obama's stress on the agent-agency ratio and a corresponding idealist-pragmatist outlook. Finally, conclusions are drawn about what this study adds to the academic literature on national eulogies, the presidency, and rhetorical studies at large. / Graduation date: 2012

北韓問題是二十世紀延續至今卻始終未能解決的複雜議題，這是因為牽涉的因素眾多：南北韓、周邊國家以及國際的考量使「維持現狀」與「模糊」政策成為處理北韓問題可以接受的模式。但事實上，吾人必須認知到在此議題上，最重要的主角仍是北韓與美國，但顯然雙方各有盤算而不能或不願直接解決。因此本文旨在探討2001至2011年美國對北韓之政策，且嘗試在現今相關領域的多數美國立場中，盡可能尋求以相對公允、同理心的角度分析問題，而非美國觀點的一言堂。本文以法國戰略學家薄富爾(André Beaufre)之「行動戰略」(Strategy of Action) 理論作為研究途徑，輔以大量相關數據資料及專著，用意在於平衡地討論美國戰略並批判其中好壞。 本文認為，小布希與歐巴馬政府對北韓政策目標一致，但戰略有所不同。受制於北韓核報復攻擊、中東戰事、經濟與他國因素，美國難以動武直取北韓，因此必須從軍事外的選項著手。筆者從軍事、政治、經濟與外交面向，以政治診斷(political diagnosis)及戰略診斷(strategic diagnosis)探討兩屆政府對北韓之行動方案。小布希和歐巴馬政府在戰略應用上符合薄富爾的觀點，但在架構面上卻有缺失，最終由於無法促使中國相助，以及自身立場的謬誤，導致兩屆政府北韓政策之失誤。 / The North Korea issue remains unresolved, and the only acceptable options for the neighbor countries are the status quo policy and the policy of deliberate ambiguity. However, it has to be acknowledged that the most important roles are North Korea and the U.S., and it is obvious they have different plans in their minds. The main idea of this thesis is to study the U.S. Policy toward North Korea (2001-2011), and present unbiased points of view instead of only the U.S. aspect. This thesis uses the Strategy of Action of André Beaufre, a French Strategist, as the research method, to analyze data and studies to fairly find out the pros and cons of the U.S. Policy toward North Korea. This thesis shows that the George W. Bush administration and the Obama administration share the same goals but different strategies toward North Korea. The U.S. have difficulty in using military action since it tries to avoid North Korea taking nuclear retaliation, and the war in the middle east and the sinking economy also limit the ability of the U.S. government. This thesis analyzes the U.S. policy toward North Korea from the aspects of military power, politics, economy and diplomacy, and it uses political diagnosis and strategic diagnosis as the approaches to examine the action plans of both Bush and Obama administrations. The research shows that the actions plans match the point of view of André Beaufre strategically, but the flaws of the plan structure, the failure to have China take a stance against North Korea and the illogicalness of the government position finally led the U.S. policy toward North Korea to a frustrated end.

‘Celebrity’ has become a growing field of critical inquiry and cultural interest in twenty-first century society. Celebrities embody a host of meanings and engender larger ideological and discursive practices, in which they articulate expressions of social, cultural and political power that attach meaning to public individuals. Beginning with the late-twentieth century, celebrities have come to occupy spaces that exist beyond popular culture platforms, most notably in politics and international diplomacy. In spite of its typical association with superficial discussions of gossip and cheap entertainment, celebrities have become the site of anxiety in a capitalist society. To come to terms with these growing anxieties concerning celebrity and its accoutrements, this thesis explores the embedded complexities and consequences of the celebrity system within the framework of what has dubiously been called ‘celebrity politics.’ Through a detailed examination of this phenomenon, this thesis explores the coalescing spheres of Hollywood and the White House, where ‘celebrity’ and ‘politician’ have become interchangeable monikers. In addition to examining the historical conditions that have given rise to the phenomenon, this study examines contemporary articulations of the ‘celebrity politician,’ focusing on Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn and President Barack Obama. Discussion of these figures is framed by critical theory and media studies to better understand their location within the contemporary Western landscape.

This paper examines the Net neutrality, or argument that the Internet should remain and open and equal platform, debate in the United States up to November 2010. After critically examining the past regulatory and legislative efforts, the feasibility of alternate solutions invested in protecting citizens' interests is examined.