The North Atlantic anchor: Canada and the Pacific Century
This paper surveys Canada’s ambivalence towards the Asia Pacific, and seeks to put that ambivalence into the broader context of the dominant strategic perspective in Canada that has privileged, and continues to privilege, a North Atlantic focus for Canadian foreign and defence policy. It argues that...
| Published in: | International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publications
2018
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020702018792909 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0020702018792909 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0020702018792909 |
| Summary: | This paper surveys Canada’s ambivalence towards the Asia Pacific, and seeks to put that ambivalence into the broader context of the dominant strategic perspective in Canada that has privileged, and continues to privilege, a North Atlantic focus for Canadian foreign and defence policy. It argues that Canada’s laggardly approach to Asia Pacific diplomacy can be best explained by the widespread perception among Canadians—and their government—that the North Atlantic alliance should remain the key driver of Canadian foreign and defence policy. Indeed, this geostrategic outlook has actually intensified with the election of Donald J. Trump and his unorthodox approach to the transatlantic alliance and the liberal international order. I argue that this North Atlantic outlook, so dominant for so much of Canada’s history, will continue to anchor Canadian foreign and defence policy, making Canada’s engagement in the Asia Pacific more problematic. |
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