Canada International Relations Case Study

First on our discussion of Canada’s international relationships is the aspect of Canada’s effort to define a global role and purpose during and after the Cold War. I view this as an overlying theme of Canada, as it affects the entirety of Canada’s international relationships. Immediately following World War II, Canada experienced a golden age of foreign policy. This was due to the various countries affected by World War II with depressed economies and other various countries such as China in political disarray. Although Canada played a decisive role in World War II, Canada was geographically shielded from the conflict, which meant that Canada came out of WWII disproportionally strong and having the capability of exerting influence on various developments in the international sphere.

When Great Britain entered a conflict before the treaty of Westminster in 1931, which ultimately made Canada autonomous, it was expected that Canada would join as well. However, for the United States and Canada’s relationship it has always been one with a clear boundary. One major difference is Canada’s willingness to help the U.S. in conflict. Instead of the days where Canada had trudge around the globe to South Africa and fight in the Boer War for Great Britain, they now utilize a certain criteria. Canada fought in the Korean War with the U.S., but did not fight in the Vietnam with the U.S. The same story can be seen in Afghanistan, as Canada came to the U.S.’s side, but in the Iraq War they did not. Canada now seems to maintain the rationale that if there is an operation that is multilateral and approved by either NATO or the United Nations, they will go. This same example can be seen in the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, as Canada participated in that. In both the Vietnam War and the Iraq War there were no sanctions, so Canada did not