The Obama moment refers to the particularity of this era as essentially different from the Bush foreign policy. As Alvaro de Vasconcelos (director of the EUISS) explains in his introduction, it is "a radical departure from the confrontational style of conducting foreign policy that characterised the Bush era," and a moment echoing Bill Clinton's "assertive multilateralism," providing Europe with more hope to participate positively in shaping a "better world." The Gulf Today