While Barack Obama’s election to the presidency was greeted with enormous anticipation by people around the world, the first two years of his foreign policy - particularly in the Middle East and Latin America - have been characterised more by continuity with George W. Bush’s second term than major change.

Obama is now forced to deal with the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, as well as the legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan. He faces a Republican-led House of Representatives opposed to his pledges of engagement with perceived adversaries, renewed efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, and greater support for multilateral initiatives dealing with such issues as climate change, global health, grassroots development, and peacekeeping and dispute resolution.