Foreign Policy of Canada

Foreign Policy of Canada

Introduction

The example of the Cold can be taken to fully understand the nature of a foreign policy. It is not a policy which is cast in stone and cannot be changed as per the environment; rather the foreign policy is dependent on the nature of the international political scene. The global political environment is a volatile phenomenon, and nations cannot be accurately measured by any nation; hence countries have to keep an active account of the latest developments on the political environment and adopt a flexible foreign policy. This approach will enable the country to have sufficient time to adopt with the changes in the global environment and not have a restricted approach. The current Canadian policy which is highly influenced by the liberal internalization approach formed in the strategic post WWII period shows the mentioned characteristics.

The Canadian policy has been a product of numerous forces of change and reorganization in the past, but due to the lessons of the history, the new policy represents a strategy to form a flexible approach towards international and regional affairs. The flexible perspective may even cause the country to drop its current approach of “liberal internationalization” for a completely new policy. Maybe the time to make such a drastic change may be sooner than the current Canadian administration is willing to believe, as the global political platform is showing violent signs of extreme volatility. The Canadian government could be influenced to increase its role in the international political stage through active participation. The political environment which is characterized by numerous wars and contentious regional debates, Canada may soon realize that it can no longer adopt a policy based on neutrality or minimal participation, in order to show its support for the neighboring and Western causes.

Historical Perspective

At the different times in the history, this country has been able to adopt diverse strategies. The Canadian government has been able to maintain three basic foreign policy principals through the major part of the country's history. The Canadian foreign policy has been a product of the strategies such as isolationism, imperialism and internationalism. The current strategy of the Canadian foreign policy which is heavily influenced by the internationalization perspective is viewed as a surprising development, judging the history of the country. The foreign policies in the past had a strict objective to guarantee the national security and achieve the national interests. Canada has not been renowned for taking a strong stand on the global political scene; it has not actively taken part in the contentious and volatile global conflicts. The current strategy is however in contradiction with the traditional approach, and has forced the country to look beyond it's national interests to show the support for the strategic allies. It remains to be seen, whether such a strategy will be as successful as the traditional approach, and whether it can provide the country with a sustainable growth model. The look in the history of the country and its previous successful ...