Foreign policy is a tricky business. Typically, challenges and proposed solutions are perceived as disparate unless a leader can amass enough support for an idea that creates alignment. And because the prime minister is typically the one proposing that idea, Canadian foreign policy can be analyzed through the actions of these leaders.

Statesmen, Strategists, and Diplomats explores how prime ministers from Sir John A. Macdonald to Justin Trudeau have shaped foreign policy by manipulating government structures, adopting and rejecting options, and imprinting their personalities on the process. Contributors consider the impact of a wide range of policy decisions - increasing or decreasing department budgets, forming or ending alliances, and pursuing trade relationships - particularly as these choices affected the bureaucracies that deliver foreign policy diplomatically and militarily.

This innovative focus is destined to trigger a new appreciation for the formidable personal attention and acuity involved in a successful approach to external affairs.

About the Author

Patrice Dutil is a professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the author of Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: Its Origins under Macdonald, Laurier, and Borden and Devil's Advocate: Godfroy Langlois and the Politics of Liberal Progressivism in Laurier's Quebec. Among his many edited books are The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent: Politics and Policies for a Modern Canada and Macdonald at 200: New Reflections and Legacies (with Roger Hall). He was the founding editor of the Literary Review of Canada (1991-96) and president of the Champlain Society (2010-17).

Contributors: Stephen Azzi, Damien-Claude Belanger, Jennifer Levin Bonder, Robert Bothwell, P.E. Bryden, Susan Colbourn, John English, Matthew Hayday, Barbara J. Messamore, Andrea Riccardo Migone, Leah Sarson, Michael D. Stevenson, Robert Teigrob, Graeme Thompson, and Jennifer Tunnicliffe

Reviews

"Statesmen, Strategists, and Diplomats brings together insightful analysis of Canadian foreign policy from the top down. This approach has regrettably fallen out of fashion in recent times, but Dutil and his collaborators remind us how our most senior decision makers influence the direction of the country on the global stage."

-- J. D. M. Stewart * Literary Review of Canada *



Book Information
ISBN 9780774868556
Author John R. English
Format Hardback
Page Count 408
Imprint University of British Columbia Press
Publisher University of British Columbia Press
Weight(grams) 760g