|
|
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
was deliberate, as were the dimensions of Doran’s analysis the authors were asked to consider in the context of their own work. The chapters themselves are organized according to Doran’s three analytical dimensions (political-strategic, trade-commercial, and psychological-cultural) plus an additional dimension (new challenges to partnership) that covers issues unforeseen more than two decades ago.
The Political-Strategic Dimension (PS)
In Doran’s original analysis, the political-strategic dimension of Canada-U.S. relations typified many of the challenges to the relationship’s management because of what it suggested about the role power and asymmetry played in structuring each country’s focus. The United States, with its diverse and vast international agenda, frequently found itself distracted from cultivating partnership with Canada because the management of global politics took center stage. Hence, American policy initiatives toward Canada are often considered in the context of America’s other global imperatives and do not always reflect the exceptionalism or exemptionalism some (Canadians in particular) would like to see from a robust partnership. Along with America’s global role comes a large burden of leadership and responsibility that has periodically relegated nonsecurity issues, such as commercial relations, to second-tier status in the pursuit of military or security cooperation. In contrast, Canada has played a comparatively small role in global politics throughout the postwar period and has tended to downplay the political-strategic dimension due to the realities of the country’s size and power in the international system.
In sharp contrast to America’s broad global imperatives, Canada’s foreign policy has historically been infused with both functionalism (balance between commitments and capabilities) and a near single-minded focus on the United States as Canada’s most important bilateral partner. In addition, Doran argued that federalism and Canadian unity were central preoccupations of Canadian governments and that foreign policy was nearly always conducted in the service of federalism and national unity. Canada’s relative size and role in global politics gave