Vol. 1, No. 3 (Fall 1993)
Papers / Articles
- The Commitments of a Liberal Foreign Policy Agenda
Andre Ouellette - Canadian Defence Policy after the Cold War:
Allen G. Sens - The End of the "State System"?
Daniel Livermore & Andre Ouellette - Accountable and Prepared? Reorganizing Canada's Intelligence Community for the 21st Century
Stuart Farson - Canadian Development Assistance to Asia: Programs, Objectives, and Future Policy Directions
Martin Rudner - The Democratization of Canadian Foreign Policy?
Kim Richard Nossal - Canada's International Role in the 1990s
Allan J. MacEachen - Le Bloc Quebécois et Politique Étrangère Canadienne
Michel Fortmann & Gordon Mace - Directions for Canadian Trade Policy: A Private Sector View
Jock A. Finlayson - Trilateral Commission Countries and UN Peace Efforts
Masashi Nishihara - United Nations Peacekeeping and Canadian Policy: A Reassessment
Henry Wiseman - Does Canada Need a Foreign Intelligence Service?
T. D'Arcy Finn
The Commitments of a Liberal Foreign Policy Agenda
Andre Ouellette
A central commitment of the Liberal foreign policy agenda is the democratization ofCanada's foreignpolicy decision-making process. The Liberal Government intends to put in place a policy development system that reflects its foreign policy priorities, ongoing public input, and a constantly changing international environment. The Government would like to bring a new Canadian emphasis to: United Nations reform, North-South dialogue, relations with the United States, international peacekeeping, and to the circumpolar Arctic.
Canadian Defence Policy after the Cold War: Old Dimensions and New Realities
Allen G. Sens
Old Dimensions and New Realities The end of the Cold War compels Canada to adjust its foreign and defence policies to account for the changes in the international security environment and the reality of increasing domestic fiscal constraints. This article contends that Canada's security interests after the Cold War demand the pursuit of an internationalist foreign policy. There will be a prominent defence component to this internationalism; international contingencies and peacekeeping will dominate the missions of the Canadian Forces after the Cold War. However, in the face of budget constraints, the Canadian Forces must be restructured with a view to the specific roles and missions that will be demanded of them in the future.
The End of the "State System"?
Daniel Livermore & Andre Ouellette
This article examines the resilience of the "nation-state" in light of the end of the Cold War period and the new era of globalization. After outlining the recent evolution of the interstate system, suggesting four future scenarios for the nation-state system (a "global society", the perpetuation of the "statist" system, an "enduring bifurcated" world, and a "multicentric and pluralist" model), the authors conclude that Canada has four options for the conduct of its foreign policy in the years ahead. ironically, the end of the state system as it is currently known will eventually render "foreign policy" a meaningless term but at the same time, ‘international relations" will become increasingly central to Canadian economic and political life.
Accountable and Prepared? Reorganizing Canada's Intelligence Community for the 21st Century
Stuart Farson
While the Canadian Intelligence Community is in a state of flux, moving from one era to another, it is not in crisis. This article begins with a review of Canada's Intelligence Community in the 1980s and then examines the Intelligence challenges of the 1990s: What will be the new threats? Will existing institutions be able to adapt to the post-Cold War environment, or will Canada's security concerns be best served by the creation of new organizations?What changes will be required in the assessment process? And, will there need to be new methods of oversight?
Canadian Development Assistance to Asia: Programs, Objectives, and Future Policy Directions
Martin Rudner
This article examines the structure, composition, and goals of Canadian development cooperation with Asian countries. Particular attention is devoted to analyzing the changing role of aid as Canada responds to the dynamics and dilemmas of Asiandevelopment. The author states that because Official Development Assistance (ODA) transfers cannot, of themselves, alleviate poverty or stimulate development momentum, and because shifting national priorities and fiscal constraints will lead to a likely decrease in future aid funding for Asia, these circumstances have pushed Canadian aid programs towards institution strengthening. The authorconcludes that aid strategies focusing on building the institutional capacity of developing countries to fulfil their respective development mandates appear to offer the most relevance to both the development challenges faced by Asian recipient countries and the goals of Canadian development assistance to Asia.
The Democratization of Canadian Foreign Policy?
Kim Richard Nossal
Recently there have been a number of calls for the "democratization" of Canadian foreign policy, most insistently from Lloyd Axworthy, former Liberal External Affairs critic. Moreover, these calls are seemingly in line with the rise of populism in Canadian politics. This article suggests that we should be skeptical, however. While proposals to make Canada's foreign policy more democratic sound appealing at first, they have not been thought through properly. This article suggests that the would-be democratizers have it all wrong: their proposals for greater democratization in Canadian foreign policyare little more than techniques of elite management that have little to do with democracy. Rather, this article suggests a different path to a democratized foreign policy process.
Canada's International Role in the 1990s
Allan J. MacEachen
Canada's futureinternational role will be greatly influenced by the Liberal Government's two-track fiscal policy of achieving jobs and growth on the one hand and of dealing with debt and deficit on the other. The author believes that it will take the new opposition Members of Parliament (especially those belonging to the Reform Party and the Bloc québecois) some time to clarify their foreign policy objectives and an evenlonger period of time to exercise any influence in shaping Canada's foreign policy. The Liberal Government will have clear sailing in this field, that is, if it sets its sails to follow its chartered course.
Since international relations are neither a main concern of the Bloc québécois as a party nor of its members, it is not easy to predict the Bloc's foreign policy positions. But it is evident from the Bloc's agenda that the party defines its role as that of an "advocate of the interests of Québec" on every front, whether social policy; environment, economy (NAFTA, GATT), immigration, or Québec's place in Canada's foreign policy. In these circumstances, there will be increased pressure on the Department of Foreign Affairs: not only will the Department increasingly have to take into account regional interests, but these demands will no longer come solely from provincial governments - they will also come directly from Parliament.
Le Bloc Quebécois et Politique Étrangère Canadienne"<BR>
Michel Fortmann & Gordon Mace
(Not available / Pas disponible)
Directions for Canadian Trade Policy: A Private Sector View
Jock A. Finlayson
Although the great Canadian free trade debate appears to be waning, trade policy will remain a central preoccupation of Canadian governments over the next decade. The responsibility for changing Canada from a "trading nation" into a "nation of traders" must fall on Canadian managers and entrepreneurs. In the coming years, government's biggest impact will come not through trade development programs - although good programs do bring modest benefits - but through the steady pursuit of a handful of mutually reinforcing trade policy objectives: multilateral liberalization, a revitalized GATT trade relations system, market-opening regional arrangements, and closer commercial relations with high-potential countries (particularly in Asia Pacific).
Trilateral Commission Countries and UN Peace Efforts
Masashi Nishihara
Since trilateral countries lead the debates in the United Nation's (UN's) Security Council and other international forums, and since they provide about one-half of UN peacekeeping forces, how Trilateral countries cooperate among themselves will make a significant difference to future UN peace efforts. This article identifies first the typical roles that trilateral countries (including Canada) have played in multilateral peacekeeping activities and, second, identifies the changing natures of geo-politics, modem conflict, and of UN peace efforts. Finally, some suggestions for future Trilateral cooperation are advanced.
United Nations Peacekeeping and Canadian Policy: A Reassessment
Henry Wiseman
After surveying a number of contemporary United Nations peacekeeping operations the author comes to the conclusion that the traditional principles of consent, impartiality, non-use of force, standard operating procedures, and rules of engagement have eroded. Training programs for multidimensional political/civilian operations are inadequate. The article concludes that it is not a question of whether theCanadian Forces are properly trained to perform the military functions of peacekeeping. The question is whether there is adequate appreciation of the complexity of the new generation of peacekeeping, of the involvement of military personnel in the politics of negotiation, and the administrative coordination with civilian governmental and non-governmental personnel who are equally responsible to fulfil their share of a peacekeeping mandate.
Does Canada Need a Foreign Intelligence Service?
T. D'Arcy Finn
The end of the Cold War and the rise of global economic rivalry has led to a redefinition of what constitutes "national security." While the territorial integrity of the state will continue to be important, the threat of economic espionage and the changing nature of alliances may mean that Canada can no longer rely on its traditional intelligence partners. As a means of adapting to this changing environment some observers have called for the establishment of a foreign intelligence service for Canada. This article examines the arguments in favour of and against such a proposition, concluding that rather than a foreign intelligence service what is first needed is a strategic assessment of Canada's current collection methods.