With the U.S. presidential election finally decided, attention has now turned to just how President-elect Barack Obama will handle American foreign policy. As a candidate, Obama often displayed the clearsighted vision of a foreign policy realist, while embracing the rhetorical flourishes of an idealist. In WPR's latest biweekly feature issue, two prominent foreign policy analysts examine the challenges and opportunities that await The Obama Presidency.
In Wilsonian Idealist or Progressive Realist? Nikolas Gvosdev, former editor of the National Interest, considers the kinds of "80 percent solutions" the Obama administration might be forced to consider, and whether it will be willing to make them.
In A Grand Strategy Agenda, Thomas P.M. Barnett examines the rule sets the Obama administration inherits from its predecessor, and how it might redefine them to further America's global leadership.