A Continent Apart: The United States and Canada in World Politics

D.M.L. Farr is a professor emeritus of history at Carleton University in
Ottawa.

This is a wise and timely little book. Its author, a distinguished American student of international polities, is now professor emeritus of the history of international relations at Columbia University. It is based on a series of lectures given at the University of Toronto during the 1982-83 academic year. Its subject is the familiar one of Canadian-American interaction but seen from a fresh perspective. Professor Fox regards the United States and Canada as constituting a subsystem” within the world political system. Both countries, in spite of their age, possess a “new-nation psychological heritage” (p.62) based on their insularity, their historic suspicion of European politics and values, their abundant physical resources, their opportunities for individual advancement. This has meant that they see and act towards the outside world in different ways than other states. Sometimes their policies come together, sometimes they are parallel; at other times, and on other subjects, they diverge markedly. Why this should be so and what it holds for the future is one of the principal themes in Dr. Fox’s book.

The work is based on a wide reading in the literature of the relationship; it presupposes a familiarity with the events it mentions in passing. Over the years Dr. Fox has been a shrewd observer of the relations between the United States and Canada. His comments are often illuminating. Americans “tend to discover similarities” with Canadians while “Canadians tend to discover differences” (p.60). He brings out the significance of Adlai Stevenson’s perceptive comment that what the United States needs is a hearing aid (p.95). He quotes with approval Pierre Trudeau’s admonition to Washington in 1982: “As friends, we have a duty to hold up the looking glass in which you see yourselves” (p. 106). Dr. Fox’s study is an explanation of why Canada views the world as she does, offered by a knowledgeable friend who is close enough not to conceal the truth. It provides valuable background reading for anyone in public life and for all those who worry about the encompassing relationship with our great neighbour to the south.