Journal of International Relations & Foreign Policy

The Role of the American President in Establishing US Foreign Policy: The Case of the Middle East and North Africa
Fouad Touzani

Abstract
This article analyses the foreign policy roles of the American president in the context of the Middle East and North Africa through examining the presidents’ speeches, statements, policies, and actions from Truman to Trump so as to better understand how American presidents establish and shape American foreign policy in the MENA area, what are the constant and historic US interests in the region and the mechanisms through which American foreign foreign policy is carried out. The analyses of these roles reveal two main historic and constant US interests in the region; namely, protecting Israel and the region’s oil resources in addition to fighting terrorism which will soon become a third historic and constant interest. The analysis reveals that challenging the aforementioned interests would create moments of crises which triggers a change in US foreign policy. This change is characterized by launching military actions, establishing stricter defensive and security measures, authorizing arms sales, applying economic sanctions, increasing or decreasing foreign aid, leading diplomatic negotiations and mediatory interventions, making supportive or opposing political statements or taking positions on the event that triggers this change. The analysis also reveals that republican presidents tend to be more active, responsive and forceful than the democrats in the Middle East.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jirfp.v5n1a3