Canadian foreign policy: from internationalism to isolationism?

By Sally Ding on April 26, 2011

ID:	HARP-431
Title:	Canadian foreign policy: from internationalism to isolationism?
Source:	International Journal , v.54(1) Wint’98/99 pg 57-75
Parties:
Dispute Resolution Organ:
Year:	1999
Pages:	0
Author(s):
Keywords:	Canada, human rights, United Nations, foreign policy, civil and political rights, Cold War, liberalism, foreign aid, liberty, national defence
Abstract:	CANADIAN FOREIGN POLICY HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED since the end of the cold war. Foreign aid and defence budgets have been cut to the bone, leaving Canada with limited means to project an international profile. To be sure, Canada is still a frontline member of the United Nations, capable of initiatives in global affairs, such as Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy’s successful campaign for a treaty banning land-mines and similar efforts concerning child soldiers, small arms, and the agreement in the summer of 1998 on an international criminal court. Nonetheless, the level of Canada’s activities and the quality of its contributions in the international sphere have diminished under the Liberal government of Jean Chretien, despite Axworthy’s activist and wellmeaning efforts. The 1995 foreign policy white paper notwithstanding, Canadian foreign policy has become much more selective and conditional and less internationalist than it was ten years ago.
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