The “Obama Doctrine”, the Theory of “Limited War” and the New US Foreign Policy: Toward a Neo-Nixonian policy?

Abstract

The Obama administration, like Nixon Administration and the subsequent U.S. administrations were faced with a profound change in the structure of the international system and the Vietnam syndrome, creating the policy of Détente and implementing the Nixon Doctrine. Thus, the Obama administration faces also to a changing international system and the Iraq syndrome, which can help or stop the U.S. in crisis situations when the use of force could be needed. Consistent with their view of the international system and foreign policy, the Obama Administration has designed a doctrine for the use of force by the U.S. military. The problem is that, at certain stage the Détente eventually led to the Carter Doctrine and a re-edition of the Cold War.