American Foreign Policy Strategies Toward the Asia- Pacific: Political Patterns and Future Expectations.

The main focus of this paper will be to anchor the Obama thrust within the framework of American diplomatic and defense priorities of the recent past. How will that emphasis survive the presidential transition in January 2017? The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offer little evidence about their priorities, other than their mutual desire to exit the Trans-Pacific Partnership. However, Asian pressures will impinge into the new President's decision-making, and it will not be too soon in April 2017 to summarize what we will know so far about the Asian direction of the new administration. The decision of President Obama to "pivot" towards Asia in his second term in office was in tune with the decisions of previous administrations. Perhaps he was looking for a fresh policy focus, after years of frustration with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and other nations of the Middle East. It is also probably the case that the economic dynamism of Asia was a draw, and the parallel focus of Russia's President Putin on priorities in Asia offered competition as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]