Essay Example on the US: A Superpower Playing a Major Role in Global Politics

Introduction

The current state of the world has been influenced by various factors. Politics is one of the main element that is present in most countries has come along with great impact on the state of these nations. One of the major countries that plays an important role in the politics of the world is the United States of America. At the current age, the US is considered as the super power. Therefore, it has a voice on how several activities all over the world should be undertaken. Moreover, these politics play an important role concerning how the certain policies are developed and used on various countries. Every leader who comes and occupies a powerful seat in politics develops policies that he or she feels is the best for a particular country or situation. One such example is the election of Donald Trump as the President of America. The rise of Donald Trump to power has come with a lot of changes especially on how America related with other nations. Under Trump administration, various policies have been developed and some of them is concerning the relationship with the Middle East (Gause III 85). Over the past few years, the relationship between the Middle East and the US has been rocky. Hence, this paper will discuss some of the Middle East policies that have been realized under Trumps Administration.

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Opposition Of Shia And Sunni Extremism

One of the major middle policy under the administration of President Donald Trump is the opposition of Shia and Sunni extremism. Trump together within his advisors have left the long standing policy which was the opposition of the Shia and the Sunni extremism. According to Cleveland (45), this opposition was followed by the support of the black Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab emirates. The choice to support these countries by Trump's administration was because they favored the confrontation of the Tehran. However, the decision to follow this step was dangerous as it would risk further destabilization of the Middle East. While campaigning in 2016, Trump has accused Riyadh on freely depending on the security privileges of the US.

Moreover, Trumps administration is in the process of pushing for the creation of the Middle East Strategic Alliance (Spykman 17). The main goal of this strategic alliance would be to increase the economic cooperation and the security which includes the regional anti-missile defense shield.

Preference for Hard Power

The second Middle East policy that has been formulated under the Trumps administration is the preference for hard power (Taffet, 22). Even though there is no clear defined lines regarding the policy, the daily tweets that are posted by the Secretary of state in the Trump administration offers an insight to what is in the mind of the president. Moreover, these tweets that are all over the social media pinpoint the direction that the US policy concerning the Middle East is taking.

In February the US government made an announcement that it plans to boost the defense (Ozcan 16). In this announcement, the US government claimed that this plan would be achieved by spending a whooping US $54 Billion as well as reduce the budget of the state department by 28 percent. This information indicates that America has an instinctive preference related to hard power as compared to soft power when pursuing the interest of the US in other countries and especially in the Middle East.

The increased amount in the proposed budget related to defense as well as the combat operations is an important sign which shows that the foot print of the US military which is current seen in the Middle East is likely to grow further (Chang, 98). More factors that can be used to indicate the direction that the US is taking in its policy making activities within the middle east, is the appointment of various officials to take certain positions. Most of the positions that have been taken are related to defense as well as the security establishment based in Washington DC. The main priority of Trump's administration will be apply hard military power as well as work closely on the foreign and security policy as well as the counterterrorism with the chosen regional partners.

In the Gulf States, some of the countries that will be used by the United States are the United Arab Emirates as well as Saudi Arabia. In these two countries, there is enhanced security guarantees for the WE and it will provided in exchange for hoping that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi will increase its cooperation regarding issues such as the administration's policy about the Islamist groups as well as Iran.

Moreover, there are several reports claiming that the United States may abolish the restrictions on human rights about the arm sales to Bahrain and this is part of the America's contribution towards maintaining the security of the region.

War on Iran

The third Middle East policy that has been developed under Donald Trump administration is the war on Iran. The main principles that have been appointed by Donald Trump have shown their support for the cooperation concerning the security operations that are being done with the US security partners within the Gulf, the war on Iran and rejected the pivot to Asia that had been developed during the Obama presidency (Wilson, DiIulio Jr, Bose and Levendusky 87). Most of these principle has reject the Pivot to Asia as it does not seen as a reality to them but rather rhetoric.

Furthermore, the pivot to Asia did not show that the US had abandoned regional partnerships and as a result, the Gulf officials began to change everything that they did like about the approach that was used by Obama concerning the relationship with the Middle East. Therefore, when the Trump administration came to power, a lot of principles have advocated that there should be more deployment of assets of the US military so that they can be used to contain Iran as well as other regional threats including the Islamic State.

More specifically concerning Iran, Trumps administration express the opinions which may be music to the leaders of the Gulf Capitals. Some of these capitals include Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. As a result of this aspect, the US has to work hard and within its close allies to ensure that Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that was signed by Iran and the International Communities was enforced.

Another factors that is related to this policy under Trump's administration is that the New Director of the CIA (Central Intelligence Department), Mike Pompeo was initially a co-sponsor, as well as the member of the House of Representatives for the 4th Congressional District in Kansas regarding the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2015. Therefore, Pompeo's record is likely to be positive within the United Arab Emirates.

The United Arab Emirates has been on the forefront to relentless campaign for the intervention of regional affairs as well as reduce the influence of Brother Hood that had become extensive within the Middle East as well as North Africa. This activity has led to the involvement of the Emirati Military in the civil war in Libya as well as the Yemen war. This element was a sign of force that the policy maker of the United Arab Emirates would emphasize as they meet with their US counter parts.

Creating Close Relationships

The fourth policy in relation to the Middle East that has been created under Trumps government to establishing close relationship with the Gulf States. Thee secretary of state under Trumps administrations, Tiller son, has created a sound relationship with the ruling circles that are based within the Gulf States from the time that he was working as the CEO of the Exxon Mobil (Mead 56).

The main focus of the US policy in the Middle East is to secure the regional stability and counter terrorism while interacting with its closest allies. Air operations carried out in Islamist held area of Mosul, Syria has increased since President Donald Trump assumed office. The forces from the United Arab Emirates have come together with the US to intensify these raids which have been aimed at the Islamic groups.

Another aspect of the Middle East Policy under Trumps administration is that development of personal ties rather than the use of institutions of state that have been build several years ago. This policy may be important as it creates a way that the US will establish relationship with the Middle East which operate in the same manner. This aspect is evident through the occasion whereby the President of Egypt visited the White House.

Conclusion

Concluding, it is just to say that ever Trump Administration took power, many policies have been developed. Most of these policies are considered to be of great benefit to the US. However, some of the policies that have been developed have affected other nations. Trump administration has developed many policies concerning the Middle East. For example, one of the main aspect of Middle East policies as developed by Donald Trump is the use of hard power over the soft military power. The hard power will help the US and its allies to get rid of the Islamic groups. Another policy that has been developed under Trumps administration is creating good relationships with other Gulf States. The relationship with these nations will ensure that there is enough resources as well as the efforts that is needed to deal with many arising issues. Furthermore, the policy that has been developed by Trumps administration is developing personal ties with the individuals especially the head of states. This relations hip may be useful as it may help to create a strong relationship with the countries in involved.

References

Chang, Ha-Joon. "Institutions and economic development: theory, policy and history." Journalof Institutional Economics 7.4 (2011): 473-498.

Cleveland, William L. A history of the modern Middle East. Routledge, 2018.

Gause III, F. Gregory. "Why Middle East studies missed the Arab Spring: The myth ofauthoritarian stability." Foreign Affairs (2011): 81-90.

Mead, Walter Russell. Special providence: American foreign policy and how it changed theworld. Routledge, 2013.

Ozcan, Mesut. Harmonizing foreign policy: Turkey, the EU and the Middle East. Routledge,2016.

Spykman, Nicholas J. America's strategy in world politics: the United States and the balance ofpower. Routledge, 2017.

Taffet, Jeffrey. Foreign aid as foreign policy: the Alliance for Progress in Latin America.Routledge, 2012.

Wilson, James Q., et al. American government: Institutions and policies. Cengage Learning,2018.