A Transforming World

Introductory chapter in Roland Paris and Taylor Owen, eds., The World Won’t Wait: Why Canada Needs to Rethink Its International Policies (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 2015), pp. 3-19 Canada needs a more ambitious, forward-looking, and effective international strategy. Profound global changes are casting doubt on assumptions that have long underpinned Canada’s foreign policy. No longer can the United States be relied upon either to drive Canadian economic growth or to single-handedly underwrite the global trading system and international security. Competition for markets, energy, and resources is intensifying. Communications technologies are collapsing distance and hierarchies, empowering new digital actors, but also raising new concerns about intrusive surveillance, cyberattacks, and violent radicalization across borders. Rising powers and non-state actors, from philanthropic foundations to terrorist networks, are playing a larger role on the global stage. Millions of people around the world are entering the global middle class for the first time, but other societies remain mired in cycles of poverty, poor governance, and conflict. The effects of climate change are multiplying, including in Canada’s north, where sea ice is rapidly disappearing... Read this chapter (pdf) Info on the book