CONCILIATOR VS BLOC LEADER : PERBANDINGAN KEBIJAKAN BARACK OBAMA & DONALD TRUMP DALAM MERESPON PERTUMBUHAN EKONOMI CHINA

ABSTRACT Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the United States has become the world's undisputed economic superpower. However, the economic reforms carried out by China since the 1980s have had a big effect on its economic growth, so that it is able to rank as the second largest economy in the world after the United States. This makes America must respond to China's development by making strategic policies. State leaders have an important role in determining the direction of United States Foreign Policy. From 2009 to 2018, America underwent 2 transitions of leadership, namely from President Barack Obama to being replaced by President Donald Trump. Even though the two leadership eras are close together, the US Foreign Policy towards China is in stark contrast. This research will analyze how the differences in the US Foreign Policy against China in the Barack Obama and Donald Trump Era and the factors that cause differences in their policies by using the idiosyncratic individual factor approach. This article finds that the different backgrounds in the life of a country's leader will influence their perception in determining the direction of their foreign policy. Key words: U.S. Foreign Policy, China, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Idiosyncratic, Psychobiography

CONTINUITY AND CHANGES IN THE US FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS THE WESTERN BALKANS DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF BIDEN’S PRESIDENCY: THIRD OBAMA’S OR SECOND TRUMP’S TERM?

Many analysts expected a radical change in President Joseph Biden’s foreign policy compared to the foreign policy of previous President Donald Trump. A year after his electoral victory, opinions about how much Biden actually changed in the US foreign policy vary from those who see it as a revolutionary change to those who perceive it as a difference only in tone and continuity in the majority of crucial policy aspects. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by addressing the issues of continuity and changes in the new administration foreign policy towards the Western Balkans. Although many expected that Biden’s policy to the region would be much more similar to President Barrack Obama’s or even President Bill Clinton’s approach, this paper claims that the new administration has a lot in common with the course of the previous President Donald Trump. There are also some changes and modifications, but they seem to be less crucial than the elements of continuity that exist between Biden’s and Trump’s administrations’ foreign policy towards this region. The paper also addresses the causes of this continuity and claims that the main reason for that are structural factors on the level of the international system. However, some reasons for the continuity are also on the state (internal) and individual levels of analysis.