Syrian policy of the USA's Barack Obama period

Barack Obama, who was elected as a President of the USA after the George W. Bush term, inherited many problems left by his successor. The preventive war doctrine implemented by Bush and his administration especially after the September 11 events and military interventions against Afghanistan and Iraq have been a turning point in terms of US foreign policy. Military interventions against these two countries caused the USA to wear down both economically and to shake its prestige in the international arena. In addition, the US economy suffered serious injuries as a result of military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq and the financial crisis of 2008 that followed. In this crisis period that created by the George W. Bush, , the priority of the Obama administration was the domestic policy problems. The Obama administration both struggled with the deteriorating economy and increasing unemployment in domestic policy and aimed to restore the deteriorated US image in foreign policy. However, due to the serious economic depreciation and unemployment problem in the domestic policy, the Obama administration had to shape its foreign policy strategy under the influence of the domestic political situation. The most serious test of the Obama administration in the international arena was the popular uprisings in the Middle East, called the Arab Spring, and the Syrian civil war, where these uprisings were the scene of the bloodiest conflicts. The Obama administration has formed its foreign policy for the Syrian civil war within the framework of relocating and managing from behind. Obama administration, which wants to put a direct response to the crisis in the background with these strategies, aimed to share power by using international organizations, sub-national structures and their allies in the region. Thus, Obama and his administration, acting with the understanding of multilateralism, both did not directly put the US into a war and minimized the costs caused by the crisis. By following these strategies, it is aimed to correct the unstable situation caused by the worn out economic situation and increasing unemployment in domestic policy. This thesis examines Obama's relocation and re-management strategies for the Syrian internal crisis. Neoclassical realism theory, which is one of the prominent international relations theories in foreign policy analysis, was used in this examination process. In the thesis, it was argued that Obama's perceptions, the current internal structure of the USA and the attitude of the US people were effective in the formation of the US foreign policy towards the Syrian civil war. It has also been stated that Obama's foreign policy towards the crisis is a crisis policy.