The World Views of the US Presidential Election
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The World Views of the US Presidential Election 2008 Edited by Matthias Maass palgrave macmillan
THE WORLD VIEWS OF THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Copyright Matthias Maass, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61868-8 All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-38128-9 ISBN 978-0-230-10195-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230101951 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The world views of the U.S. presidential election: 2008 / edited by Matthias Maass. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-349-38128-9 (alk. paper) 1. Presidents United States Election 2008. 2. United States Foreign public opinion. 3. United States Foreign relations 2001 I. Maass, Matthias. JK5262008.W67 2009 324.973 0931 dc22 2009014842 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Für Max
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Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The US Presidential Election in 2008: An Introduction to a Global Event 1 Matthias Maass 1 Mexico: Between Skepticism, Hope, and Disillusion 9 Thomas Cieslik 2 The 2008 Presidential Election: The View From Venezuela 29 Lesley Martina Burns 3 Brazil: Between Continuity and Change 49 João Pontes Nogueira and Kai Michael Kenkel 4 Admiration Reborn: The British View of the US Presidential Election 69 Adam Quinn 5 Oh La La: Obamania à la Française 87 Ruchi Anand 6 Russian Perceptions of the 2008 US Presidential Election: A Case for General Optimism or Russian Optimism? 107 Jeremy Dwyer and Peter Lentini 7 Israeli Views on the US Presidential Election: Between Perception and Reality 133 Ronnie Olesker 8 Palestine s View of the 2008 US Presidential Election 151 Mohammad Masad 9 The UAE and the Gulf Views of the US Presidential Election 169 Kenneth Christie
viii Contents 10 The Iranian Perspective on the US Presidential Election of 2008 185 Grace Cheng 11 How Pakistan Viewed the US Election Campaign 203 Moonis Ahmar 12 Support and Apprehension: Chinese Views on the US Presidential Election 221 Sukhee Han and Kai Jin 13 Japan and the US Presidential Election of 2008 237 Robert Dujarric Conclusion: A Global Event With Global Stakeholders: Obama s Election and the Idea of America 253 Matthias Maass Notes on Contributors 263 Index 267
Acknowledgments In 2004, I was invited by Tomasz Pludowski to contribute a chapter on the upcoming U.S. presidential election from the South Korean perspective. Even if the edited book s focus ended up being much broader than just the contest between Bush and Kerry, I found the exercise to be immensely fruitful. 1 In particular, with a potentially historic 2008 US election on the horizon, a study centered on the foreign perspectives of the US presidential election appeared useful. Robyn Curtis, Asa Johnson, Farideh Koohi-Kamali, and Rachel Tekula at Palgrave were immensely helpful in moving this project from idea to reality. Here at Yonsei University I received tremendous help from student assistants, namely, Dongyoon Chung, Tim Gitzen, and Holly Stephens. This project has been a collaborative and intercontinental effort, and much gratitude is due to all those who provided the IT-infrastructure at universities. Yonsei University and its Graduate School of International Studies provided all the logistical support I could have hoped for. Both contributions may sound banal, but were crucial for this project. There were many friends, whom I do not need to name here, and also family, who were a constant source of advice and encouragement. Note 1. The 2004 American Presidential Election and the Korean Peninsula: US Foreign Policy toward the Korean Peninsula after 2004. The South Korean Perspective, in Tomasz Pludowski (ed.), American Politics, Media, and Elections, Contemporary International Perspectives on US Presidency, Foreign Policy, and Political Communication (Warsaw and Torun: Collegium Civitas Press and Adam Marszalek, 2005).