The Obama Doctrine: Successes, Challenges and the Future
The Obama administration faced a daunting foreign policy agenda when it came to office. Two wars, a sagging economy and bruised American prestige overseas translated into diminished global influence. Nevertheless, the Administration undertook a daunting foreign policy agenda intended to clean-up the mess the Bush administration left behind. This agenda did not lack ambition, as the President’s commitment to seek a world free of nuclear weapons was made clear. Nor was it going to be easy. As the ongoing struggles to move past the Bush-era mindset on terrorism toward a new strategy based on resilience and fortitude showed, the Administration’s agenda has not been not free of obstacles or controversies. A key question is whether President Obama will be remembered for his foreign policy accomplishments that make the front page—such as his approach to Iran—or those which don’t always make the headlines, such as the effort to rebalance America’s instruments of power so that its economic, diplomatic and development instruments are on par with military power. This panel, comprised of leading foreign policy experts and commentators will assess the emerging Obama ‘doctrine,’ analyzing its major successes, its persistent challenges and what the future has in store.
Max Bergmann is a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy Analyst for American Progress. He works on nuclear nonproliferation, military affairs, and other related U.S. foreign policy issues.
Bergmann was formerly the deputy policy director at the National Security Network. Prior to joining NSN, Bergmann was a Research Associate for National Security at the Center for American Progress from 2004 to 2007. Bergmann authored numerous reports on military affairs and has been published by the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, The New Republic, The American Prospect, The Washington Times, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, World Politics Review Journal, and Issues in Science and Technology.
Bergmann received his master’s degree from the London School of Economics in comparative politics with a concentration on ethnic conflict regulation and the European Union. Max is from Gainesville, FL and received his B.A. from Bates College.
Wendy Chamberlin is President of the Middle East Institute. She previously served as Deputy High Commissioner for the UN High Commission for Refugees (2004-2006) and Assistant Administrator in the Asia-Near East Bureau for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2002 to 2004.
Chamberlin was in the US diplomatic service from 1975 to 2004. She served as US Ambassador to Pakistan (2001-2002) and to Laos (1996-1999). Her assignments also included Director of Press and Public Affairs for the Near East Bureau, Director Global Affairs and Counter-Terrorism at the National Security Council, Deputy in the Bureau of International Counter-Narcotics and Law Programs, as well as Deputy Chief of Mission in the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and other postings in Morocco, Pakistan, Malaysia and Zaire.
Her opinion pieces were published in The Washington Post, International Herald Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer. In addition, she made several appearances on NPR, FOX, CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera and the Travis Smiley Show.
A graduate of Northwestern University, Chamberlin has a MS in Education from Boston University and participated in the Executive Program at Harvard University. She also holds an honorary PhD from Northwestern University.
Major General Paul D. Eaton served more than 30 years in the United States Army, including combat and post-combat assignments in Iraq, Bosnia and Somalia. As a major general he was assigned to Iraq as Commanding General of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT), where he developed, designed and began the training of the Iraqi military and security forces from 2003 to 2004. Prior to that assignment, he commanded the Army's Infantry Center and was Chief of Infantry for the Army. Eaton has appeared on Hardball, Face the Nation, and Tavis Smiley discussing US national security and human rights policy. In 2008 Eaton served as an advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. He holds a bachelor's degree from West Point and a master's in French from Middlebury College. He is married to PJ, has two sons and a daughter, all soldiers.
Lawrence J. Korb is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is also a senior advisor to the Center for Defense Information and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Prior to joining the Center for American Progress he was a senior fellow and director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prior to joining the council, Dr. Korb served as director of the Center for Public Policy Education and senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution; dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh; vice president of corporate operations at the Raytheon Company; and director of defense studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Dr. Korb served as assistant secretary of defense (manpower, reserve affairs, installations, and logistics) from 1981 through 1985. In that position, he administered about 70 percent of the defense budget. For his service in that position, he was awarded the Department of Defense's medal for Distinguished Public Service. Dr. Korb served on active duty for four years as Naval Flight Officer, and retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of captain.
He received his Ph.D. in political science from the State University of New York at Albany and has held full-time teaching positions at the University of Dayton, the Coast Guard Academy, and the Naval War College.
Adam Serwer is a Staff Writer at the American Prospect. He writes mostly on issues of civil and human rights, criminal justice, and national security.
