'Het Afghaanse volk heeft onze maar ook uw steun nodig' : de rol van buitenlands beleid in de Amerikaanse presidentsverkiezingen

Ruud Janssens presents his essay 'The Afghan People need Our Troops and Your Troops': The role of foreign policy in the American Presidential Elections. Given the Global War on Terror, and specifically the American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign policy plays a prominent role in the American Presidential elections. A quarter of the American electorate states that foreign policy is the decisive factor in their choice for the next President, according to opinion polls. On this point, John McCain, emphasizing his experience, is slightly more popular than Barack Obama, who stresses making the right choices. Both candidates (and their large foreign policy staffs; in July, McCain had 75 advisors and Obama 300) want, to some extent, change in the foreign policy field: Obama wants to cooperate more with other nations, while McCain is in favour of a new 'League of Democracies'. Yet, on one key point they agree: in spite of President Bush's lack of popularity, caused to a large extent by his policy on Iraq, both Presidential candidates have declared to continue Bush's global War on Terror. When both candidates wish to see more international cooperation, they also want more troops and money from Europe. Even though many Europeans would like a more multilateral American foreign policy to re-emerge, it is doubtful if they are looking forward to such requests.