Colonial Residue: How Colonial Power-Relations Shapes Canadian Foreign Policy

Adam McCauley, University of Oxford

Amidst an evolving landscape of international security threats, the modern state system may be entering its most tumultuous period in recent history. For Canada, the future or emergent status quo may present an opportunity for critical reflection and creative reimagining of its foreign policy. However, in these moments, the scope of change – and the political agility required – is constrained by extant principles, ideas, allusions, and assumptions that quietly, and often implicitly, underpin the country’s foreign policy thinking. This paper explores the historical touchstones and political ideas that have shaped Canadian foreign policy, first as a dominion within the British Empire, then as a constitutional monarchy in the post-WWII and Cold War eras. The paper explores how Canadian dependency on the imperial architecture of British power infused the thinking (and articulation) of Canadian external, then foreign, policy. The paper traces how these ideas were central for leaders mapping the contours of Canada’s “independent” foreign policy onto the developing organs of international organizations in the mid-20th century. Throughout, I argue that a form of intellectual colonization remains and contours Canadian foreign policy thinking – with these early foundations serving as the software, and not merely a bug, in the machinery of Canadian foreign policy development. The paper explores the colonial-era ideas as they appear, implicitly and explicitly, in texts; exchanged in private correspondence between key political actors; and expressed in public debates. I show these ideas remain resonant and formative in Canadian policy throughout the 20th and 21st century. I conclude by arguing a kind of contemporary intellectual archeology is vital to enable critical reimagining of the Canadian policy-making process – a reimagining that remains necessary for any middle power intent on effectively engaging in the international system today.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 141. Conceptualizing State-Making