ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Obama's major foreign policy decisions, explaining why the great majority of them are consistent with realist precepts. It examines the implications of Obama's approach for world politics. Realism is an approach or theory that purports to describe the way the world behaves. Obama's rhetoric in support of realism continued with his speech at West Point, in May 2014, billed as a major foreign policy address. Obama's "pivot" to Asia, the handling of Iran's nuclear program, the reaction to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, and the response to the "Arab Spring" all followed realist precepts. The economic dimension of the pivot included strengthening the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which expanded in 2012 and is designed to provide a free-market alternative to the Chinese model of state capitalism. Obama responded to the escalating Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threat by calling for direct US military involvement while increasing assistance to the indigenous groups most threatened.
