Despite his attempts at pragmatism, Obama will leave an incoherent legacy in a post-American world.

The election of Barack Obama in 2008 marked a change in US foreign policy from intervention towards a greater emphasis on pragmatism and an acknowledgement of the limits of American power. Reviewing Obama’s foreign policy legacy, Ellen Hallams writes that the 44th President has both acted to reduce US engagement abroad but has also worked to preserve US primacy. She writes that in attempting to shift America’s strategic narrative to better reflect the realities of a post-American world, Obama has, however, fuelled perceptions of US weakness and strategic incoherence, a narrative that his successor, whoever that may be, is unlikely to continue.