Introduction – The Politics of Change .- Obama's Electoral Record: The Emerging Democratic Majority? .- Obama and Congress: Change in an Age of Deadlock? .- The US Supreme Court in the Obama Years .- Continuity and Change: Immigration Worksite Enforcement during the Bush and Obama Administrations .- Macroeconomic Policy and Processes of Neoliberalization during the Obama Years .- Racially Polarised Partisanship and the Obama Presidency .- Offers and Throffers: Education Policy under Obama .- Healthy Hunger-free Kids? The US School Lunch Revolution .- Looking Back on Obama’s Environmental Policy .- A New ‘War on Poverty’? A Story of Policy Success, Frustration and Restraint .- Barack Obama and the Return of ‘Declinism’: Rebalancing American Foreign Policy in an Era of Multipolarity .- Obama and Iran: Explaining Policy Change .- “Here, We See the Future:” The Obama Administration’s Pivot to Asia.

This edited volume considers the extent to which the Obama presidency matched the promises of hope and change that were held out in the 2008 election. Contributors assess the character of “change” and, within this context, survey the extent to which there was enduring change within particular policy areas, both domestic and foreign. The authors combine empirical detail with more speculative assessment of the limits and possibilities of change amidst a very dense institutional landscape and in an era of intense political polarization. Some see significant changes, the full consequences of which may only be evident in later years. Other authors in the collection present a markedly different picture and suggest that processes of change were not only limited and partial but at times leading the US in directions far removed from the promises of 2008. The book will make an important contribution to the debates about the Obama legacy.

“This fine volume - the work of both established and younger scholars from the UK, continental Europe, and the United States, all of them connected to the UK's American Politics Group  - is a standout contribution to our growing understanding of Barack Obama's presidency.  Splendidly edited and organized, it sustains a clear and coherent framework in covering a broad range of political, social, economic and international issues that rose to the fore during Obama's tenure.  Wisely eschewing a grand narrative in favour of assessing the nuances and complexity of a consequential presidency, it is nevertheless persuasive in its assessment that Barack Obama's time in office could well have transformative significance for the future development of twenty-first century America.  This is a book that deserves to be read by both scholars and students of American politics.” (Iwan Morgan, Professor of US Studies, UCL, and author of “Reagan: American Icon” (2016))

"This fine volume - the work of both established and younger scholars from the UK, continental Europe, and the United States, all of them connected to the UK's American Politics Group - is a standout contribution to our growing understanding of Barack Obama's presidency. Splendidly edited and organized, it sustains a clear and coherent framework in covering a broad range of political, social, economic and international issues that rose to the fore during Obama's tenure. Wisely eschewing a grand narrative in favour of assessing the nuances and complexity of a consequential presidency, it is nevertheless persuasive in its assessment that Barack Obama's time in office could well have transformative significance for the future development of twenty-first century America. This is a book that deserves to be read by both scholars and students of American politics." (Iwan Morgan, Professor of US Studies, UCL, and author of "Reagan: American Icon" (2016))

Offers rigorous and timely appraisal of the Obama presidency, combining broad commentaries and case studies Contributes to debates about the character of political and economic change Considers foreign and domestic policy and situates Obama within debates about the capacities and character of the US presidency Builds upon and develops studies of the US political process with contributions by experienced specialists from the US and abroad