Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 03/2010

The Obama Administration and Multilateralism: Europe Relegated

Richard Gowan

February 2010

Center on International Cooperation

Abstract

In a new paper for FRIDE, Richard Gowan analyzes the administration's multilateral diplomacy over the last year, and asks why it has chosen to prioritize the G20 over alternatives like the UN. He argues that the U.S. has taken a bet on cooperation with rising powers like China, but that this has alienated its established friends in Europe. Yet EU member states have also lacked a coherent multilateral strategy - a flaw that France, which chairs the G8 and G20 in 2011, must address.