Pragmatic Idealism: Canadian Foreign Policy, 1945-1995

Edelgard E. Mahant is a professor of political science at York
University. She is the co-author of Invisible and Inaudible in
Washington: American Policies Toward Canada and An Introduction to
Canadian–American Relations.

It has been a long time since the last publication of a historical
survey of Canadian foreign policy, and for this reason alone this clear,
comprehensive, and well-written book will be welcome addition to any
library. Comprehensiveness, however, has its costs. Issues of some
importance merit little attention in this book. For example, the Avro
Arrow controversy is covered in a couple of sentences, the Canada–U.S.
Free Trade Agreement receives less than two pages, and NAFTA does not
even rate a mention.

Professor Melakopides has chosen to build his book around the theme of
“pragmatic idealism,” meaning that Canada’s foreign policy is
inspired by a near-perfect blend of self-interest and idealism. Thus
assistance to the poorest of the poor countries—the French-speaking
countries of Africa—is altruistic and at the same time promotes
Canada’s national unity agenda. Similarly, the pragmatism and
willingness to compromise that are needed to govern a multicultural,
bilingual country such as Canada are useful tools when Canadian leaders
assist in the mediation of international disputes.

Melakopides finds that Canadian foreign policy, from Mackenzie King to
Jean Chrétien, serves as an excellent illustration of pragmatic
idealism. However, he does not give sufficient attention to alternative
points of view. The left-wing view of Canada as an American puppet, for
example, is glossed over. The right-wing view that Canada’s foreign
policy is just as realistic as any other power’s fares somewhat
better; there is a discussion of the Dewitt and Kirton thesis of Canada
as a principal power. Nevertheless, the book would have been more
convincing had the author taken care to refute other points of view. As
it stands, he restricts his discussion to issues—such as foreign aid
and disarmament— that are most likely to support his own perspective.

Lastly, the book contains a number of minor factual errors. George
Shultz’s name is misspelled throughout, and Pearson is mistakenly
identified as the first NATO foreign minister to visit Moscow. The words
“internationalism” and “idealism” are used interchangeably,
though their meanings are, of course, quite distinct. In short, this is
a good and useful book that could have much better.