Abstract
Idahosa analyzes the four pillars that serve as the foundation of the Obama administration’s foreign policy toward Africa for the strengthening of democratic institutions. The president, in his address to the Ghanaian parliament in Accra on July 11, 2009, put it succinctly: “first we must support strong and sustainable democratic governments.” From the outset, observers excitedly watched Obama’s first inauguration, hoping that the power transition would provide a much sought after focus on USA–Africa relations. However, midway through his second term, African expectations about Obama’s transformative potentials are being doused by the relative slow pace of change in the US foreign policy toward the region. The crux of the matter is whether Washington is able to match words with deeds in democracy building in Africa.
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Notes
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Idahosa, O.I. (2016). Learning from the Curve: The Obama Administration’s Promotion of Democracy in Africa. In: Burt, S., Añorve, D. (eds) Global Perspectives on US Democratization Efforts. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58984-2_3
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