Obama’s Fractured Legacy

12 newly commissioned chapters critically assess the legacy of Obama’s presidency in Trump’s America

• Designed at the end of Obama’s second term (unlike most books published on the Obama presidency), thus drawing on a complete range of insights on the former president’s time in the office
• Features leading experts on the American presidency and on major issues in the US today, covering both European and American perspectives on the topic
• Tackles both institutional and political dynamics
• Rests on a dialogue across politics and history that allows for deep assessment of the achievements of Obama’s presidency while simultaneously placing the successes and failures in historical perspective
• Contributors include Steven Skowronek, Andrew Rudalevige and Sidney Milkis

Featuring a range of experts on the American presidency, this book offers both European and American perspectives on both the successes and failures of President Obama’s tenure in the White House.

Focusing primarily on domestic policy, these essays explain why Obama’s widely anticipated moment of change did not fully materialise. The Obama presidency navigated partisan and institutional obstacles, but quickly lost its 2008 momentum. These developments illustrate the weakening of the institutional Presidency in a larger context of polarised politics. Many of the fault lines of American society were thus left largely unaddressed, paving the way for the Trump campaign in 2016.

François Vergniolle de Chantal is Professor of American Politics and Government at Université de Paris.

He is the author an editor of several books on the US presidency in both French and English. He is the author of L’impossible présidence impériale: Le contrôle législatif aux États-Unis (CNRS Éditions Paris, 2016). His research focuses on US political institutions, American Congress, and ideologies and political thought.