The Canadian Strategic Review 1982

Robert Bedeski was Professor of Political Science at Carleton University, Ottawa.

The Review, the first in the set of annual volumes, provides an excellent survey of world and Canadian developments in strategic affairs. It is divided into three parts: The International Military-Strategic Environment, Canadian Defence Policy Issues, and The International Economic-Strategic Environment, with short chapters on various topics.

The editor and authors have summarized many complex events clearly and concisely so that a public audience can grasp the significance of contemporary developments. A glossary is provided to decode acronyms, but an index would have been useful as well. Some lapses in editing also detract from the volume, with “the United Nations Force in Cypress” [sic] (p. 70) as the most surprising.

The book covers the important subjects of Soviet-U.S. strategic relations, questions about NATO and the Poland crisis, arms control and disarmament, Canada’s defence, and Canadian industrial strategy and industrial preparedness. Regional issues, the OECD, East-West, and North-South relations are also included. The Canadian perspective on events is welcome.

The dilemma of Canadian defence policy is analyzed succinctly in a section on the “Commitment-Capability Gap” (pp. 72-77). The authors see an urgent need to improve its maritime capabilities, especially since its surface fleet is “woefully inadequate for the country with the second longest coastline in the world” (p. 75).

The volume is recommended to the general reader who desires an overview of contemporary strategic situations from a Canadian perspective.