President Clinton's foreign travels have stepped up considerably in his second term, indicating a higher priority for foreign policy. But the past year has also seen serious setbacks for him in the Middle East peace talks, UN reform and in trade policy.
At the same time the US has pushed through its version of NATO enlargement and forced President Saddam Hussein to back down on the issue of UN inspections for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. This crisis is not fully resolved at this time and Washington was not happy at the way Russia reasserted its traditional role in the region to negotiate its own deal with Baghdad.
The reluctance of the Arab countries to restore the Gulf War "coalition" in the face of Saddam Hussein's defiance of UN resolutions was seen as a rebuff for US foreign policy in the region. For Washington, however, Israeli foot-dragging in the Middle East peace talks was mainly to blame and tensions showed in a clash between President Clinton and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Clinton's refusal to meet the Israeli premier during a November visit to the US was publicly deplored by the latter as conduct unbecoming a civilised nation. In private, Mr Clinton is said to have expressed exasperation over the Israeli government's policy on allowing new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and delaying withdrawal from the West Bank, thus jeopardising the peace talks with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is trying to get the peace process on the road again. But she is also up against Israeli reluctance to make any moves until the Palestinians can guarantee security from terrorist bombings. The prospect of US troops remaining in Bosnia after the expiry of the IFOR mandate next June is causing some strains in the administration, where Ms Albright is arguing for an extension while the Secretary of Defence, William Cohen, has been taking the Pentagon line that it is time for them to come home.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has angered the White House by his criticism of "policy drift" over Bosnia. Pointing to the examples of Vietnam and Somalia, he has written that the US risks "sliding into a similar dilemma" by its failure to define its policy for Bosnia.
NATO enlargement to include Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary is likely to be ratified by the Senate, but the administration will first be pressed on how much this will cost the US taxpayer. There is also unease about the role being assigned to Russia in the new Permanent Joint Council set up to give Moscow "a voice but not a veto" in European security.
Again Mr Kissinger is warning that having Russia in such a role could undermine the solidarity of the North Atlantic alliance. Other congressional critics fear that enlargement may mean US involvement in future border disputes in Central Europe and ask if the American public is ready for that in spite of its apparent support for a bigger NATO.
WHILE Europe and the Middle East will continue to preoccupy the US, President Clinton and his new foreign policy team are anxious to widen horizons towards Asia, Africa and South America. Mr Clinton plans to visit China, India, Pakistan and Africa and attend a western hemisphere summit in Chile in 1998.
The President has chosen the economic development of Africa as a foreign policy goal and proposed the first steps at the Denver G-7 summit last June. Ms Albright's week-long tour in December of six African countries is seen as a sign of the new US interest in a continent that is usually portrayed in the media as verging on anarchy.
The foreign policy team that President Clinton put together for his second term is working effectively, after the stumbles over Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia in the early years of his first term. Ms Albright is a more forceful voice abroad than her low key predecessor, Warren Christopher.
She also has a good working relationship with Sandy Berger, who took over as National Security Adviser from the more scholarly Anthony Lake. The national security team also includes Mr Cohen at the Pentagon. On the question of US troops in Bosnia, he has been influenced by the reluctance of the chiefs of staff to prolong US military involvement, but he is expected to go along with a compromise which would mean a reduced US presence after July and more emphasis on civil policing.
Congress, before breaking up in November, failed to approve the Clinton administration proposal to start paying back the $1.2 billion owed to the UN and to give the President fast track authority to negotiate new trade agreements. The UN payment fell victim to a domestic dispute over funding foreign organisations which support abortion and now this threatens the UN reforms planned by the Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.
The administration will try to put together a new package for UN funding when Congress resumes. Its previous refusal weakened the US's position when it sought UN support during the Gulf crisis.
Congress also failed to approve extra US funding for the International Monetary Fund's new borrowing arrangement. This was seen as bad timing, with the IMF being increasingly called upon to bail out ailing Asian economies, especially South Korea.
President Clinton is also hopeful that he can persuade Congress to grant him fast track authority in the coming months. But this means winning the support of his own Democrats in the House, nearly 80 per cent of whom refused it in November, citing fears about job losses in the US and concern about human rights and environmental standards in developing countries.
Observers see an increasing isolationist influence in Congress, in which "globalisation", or the interdependence of the world economies is not seen as advantageous for the US. "Globalphobia" is the term being given to this development.
Finally, on Northern Ireland, the President's persistence in backing the peace process and Sinn Fein's participation in it was rewarded with the calling of the second IRA ceasefire. In frequent statements Mr Clinton shows his personal involvement in the search for a peaceful settlement and refers to "the land of my ancestors".
The White House doors have been open to a procession of unionists, loyalists and republicans as the administration encourages the painful steps towards a settlement. But Mr Berger has warned that there will be no "third bite of the apple" for Sinn Fein/IRA if the ceasefire breaks down again.