During the early part of his presidency, Barack Obama often extolled the benefits of multilateralism and America’s role as the indispensable nation within multilateral frameworks. For example, in his speech in Berlin in 2008 and again during his re-election campaign four years later. But over time, Obama’s policy on multilateralism shifted from America being the indispensable nation to America being the indispensable catalyst—the country that helps others tackle security challenges while at the same time avoiding political risks itself. Such views were at odds with the expectations, as well as the capabilities to share in the burdens, of America’s partners across the Atlantic. Moreover, the indispensable catalyst policy clashed with members of Obama’s own cabinet and many Washington-foreign-policy-establishment types, a group that Obama’s close adviser Ben Rhodes labelled “The Blob.” If the indispensable catalyst policy was challenged by senior foreign policy experts, was also not really feasible and even unproductive because it led to discouraged partners, why did Obama pursue it?
Certainly, Obama’s personal world view played an important role in shaping the indispensable catalyst policy, but equally important was Obama’s small, informal network of close aides, who the author James Mann labels “the Obamians.” Many individuals in this network did not hold official cabinet positions but nevertheless closely worked with Obama since his 2008 presidential campaign. The Obamaians clashed with the more traditional Democratic Party foreign policy specialists, like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was Clinton’s differences with Obama that led to her inclusion in “The Blob,” or that part of the Obama National Security Council that advocated a policy that maintained a strong American security order in Europe and the Middle East.
Clearly, groups with differing ideas of America’s role in the world were found in the Obama White House. Why did the Obamians prevail over the more traditional senior Democratic Party foreign policy makers and redirect the course of Obama’s policy on multilateralism? The advocacy coalition framework (ACF) developed by Paul A. Sabatier offers an analytical mechanism to answer this question (2007). As a construct, the ACF facilitates a consideration of the strategies, means and settings that the Obamians used to persuade the president through its focus on the competition between foreign policy coalitions that aim to translate their ideas into official actions.
