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THE UNITED STATES: A DIVIDED AND CAREFUL SUPERPOWER

Summary/Abstract: The year 2015 was a difficult time of political stagnation and government impassefor the United States (US). Americans mainly concentrated on domestic issuesand the upcoming Presidential election, which corresponds with a very cautious engagementin the foreign policy area. Three main issues dominated American politics.Firstly, a combination of disappointment and dissatisfaction with Congress and President Obama manifested itself through the rejection of “veteran” politicians andredirected the interests of American voters towards anti-establishment outsiders –such as Donald Trump (R), Ben Carson (R) and Bernie Sanders (D). This drift in votingtendencies created challenges for the so-called mainstream candidates: HillaryClinton (democratic ticket) as well as Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and John Kasich(among Republicans). Secondly, divisions and widening gaps across the Americansociety (e.g. income inequalities, radicalization of beliefs and attitudes as well as racialtensions) led to social frustration, discontent and even riots in some Americancities. Thirdly, the sphere of external relations was dominated by a kind of governmentalstandstill as the past year is best characterized by a lack of new, larger-scaleinitiatives or plans. Officials focused their efforts on wrapping-up projects launchedpreviously (e.g. nuclear agreement with Iran, re-establishment of relations with Cubaand the climate agreement). Last year was therefore, a time of preparation for thesubsequent „change” in the US. How large of a change will 2016 bring? We’ll knowmore after the election on November 8th, 2016.

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