CLASS NOTES

9/11/18_______________________________________________________
Syllabus
I. Academic Brief
a. Use the class before the brief is due to find an idea
b. Part I and II are unrelated
c. Part II readings are the readings of the due date.
i. Use two other scholars to back your ideas up
d. CITE
e. Part III
i. Title and URL on the discussion board or Facebook
ii. Reasons for posting your article
iii. Reason you liked someone else’s post
9/18/18_______________________________________________________
Political/Social / Cultural Relations Foundations
I. Current Events
a. US launched more tariffs on China
b. Foreign Affairs minister hinted that she might be willing to compromise
on NAFTA
i. Chapter 19: Dispute settlement between all NAFTA partners
c. Child trafficking between Canada and the US
i. From First Nations communities
d. Borders
i. If you even have stocks in marijuana, you can be banned
permanently from the US
II. Canada and the US
a. Course Objectives
i. Consider Canadian-US Relations in would not otherwise
ii. Gain a more nuanced understanding of Canadian-US relations
b. Topics
i. Diplomatic Relations
1. Comparative Political Institutions
2. Federal Governments & State/Provincial Relations
3. Foreign Policy
ii. Security and Defence
1. Distance Early Warning system
iii. Economic and trade relations
iv. Political/Social Relations Foundations
 1. National Identities
2. Attitudes perspectives
v. Theoretical Perspectives
1. Liberal internationalist : middle power
a. Harmonious multilateral associations
b. It isn’t just power politics/zero-sum game
c. Liberalism
i. The idea that humans are rational and
reasonable
ii. The system isn’t totally anarchical
iii. The state and the individual matters
iv.
2. Peripheral Dependence: small & dominated
a. The idea that the US is a core state, and Canada
“feeds” off it
3. Complex Neo-Realist: promoting a world order supportive of
Canada’s interests
a. Neo-realism
i. Recognizes the influence of economic and
personal power
ii. Nations are self-interested and will pursue
their self-interest
iii. International relations are anarchic
iv. Hobbesian world
v. Thucydides: father of int’l relations theory
1. “Might is right”
vi. Only the state matters
vii. Don’t believe in international institutions
1. But think they can use them
4. Constructivism
a. Internal forces within a state matter
b. State relations are social constructs
c. Power in international relations is about influence
i. Ex) USSR
1. Stopped being powerful when people
stopped seeing it as powerful
d. Size doesn’t matter
vi. Canada’s Role in the World
1. Lester B. Pearson Building
a. Looks like a sphinx because Lester B. Pearson
negotiated the Suez Crisis
2. Foreign ideas
a. Peace loving
b. Respected and Admired
 c. Use of International Institutions
d. Fight above our weight
e. Underestimate our assets
vii. Capability and size
1. Traditionally Canada worries about its place in the world
viii. What do we mean by the terms:
1. Canadian
a. Federal gov’t
b. Québec is almost separately thought of (in relation to
the Francophonie)
c. What is it to be Canadian?
2. American
a. Federal gov’t
3. Citizenship
a. Rights and responsibilities
4. Foreign
a. Anything outside of your borders
b. Things inside Canada that relate to foreign relations
5. Policy
a. The approach you take when you deal with foreign
nations
b. Some people think Canada doesn’t truly have a true
foreign policy
c. Laws and policies
d. Canada was built to be more centralized, but
provinces have a lot of power, whereas the US was
built to be strong in states rights
ix. What are the two foreign policies?
1. Canadian
2. American
3. Things to consider:
a. Declarations
i. Discourse
ii. Principals
iii. Norms
iv. Usually non-enforceable
b. Distributions of resources
i. Iran-Contra affair
ii. 3-D approach
1. Defence
2. Diplomacy
3. Development
iii. 9/11 reshuffling of departments in US
 1. CIA didn’t like that Homeland Security
was created
2. Reorgs show priorities
c. Decisions to resolve a crisis
i. Ex) FEMA funds used for ICE
ii. Canada’s reaction to Crimea
x. Canada what impact and influence
xi. Canada/US relations at the centre of elections
c. Important things
i. “Living next to you is, in some ways, like sleeping with an elephant;
no matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast…one is
affected by every twitch and grunt.” –Pierre Elliot Trudeau (Press
Club, DC, 25 March 1969)
ii. Cultural
1. US doesn’t like CanCon (Canada Content rules) & feels that
Canada have a large cultural impact
a. Radios need to play at least 30% Canadian music
(singer, producer, writer)
b. Large subsidies to Canadian contents and companies
2. Mosaic vs Melting Pot
a. Canada is a mosaic
b. US is a melting pot
iii. Economic
1. Security relations
iv. Ronald Reagan
1. The Canadian Caper
2. Threw in French
3. Lots of historical references
4. Referred to “men”
5. Very friendly
v. Peace Arc
1. On west coast
2. US side: Children of a common mother
3. Canadian: Brethren dwelling together in unity
vi. Relations without precedent
1. The fact that the NAFTA issue hasn’t been more long-
standing
vii. Large asymmetries
1. Population
viii. Founding ideas
1. Peace, order, and good government: Canada
2. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
9/25/18_______________________________________________________
Introduction cont’d
III. Canada: What Impact and Influence?
IV. Why does Foreign Policy with the US matter for Canada?
a. Canada has always had a long history of foreign relations
V. Canada/US Relations at the centre of elections
a. 1963: Would Canada allow for US nukes on Canadian soil?
b. 1988: Canada-US free trade agreement
c. 1994: NAFTA
d. 1996: Canada’s aircraft for summit diplomacy
e. 2004/2006: US Helicopters
f. Today: Also NAFTA
i. If NAFTA fails, Canada will start having bilateral trade agreements
1. CPTPPTA : Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific
Partnership Trade Agreement
ii. “Whatever happens in the US happens 10 years later”
iii. Canadians follow US issues
g. PMs spend a lot of time working on IR esp. with the US
VI.
a. Follow the money
b. Biases in the Study of Canadian Foreign Policy
c. Ontario & Québec have individual biases of “what’s good for Ontario &
Québec is good for the rest of Canada”
d. A lot of the literature is in English (mostly from Ontario)
e. Eastern English
f. Gender
i. Generally men are writing/practising IR at high level
g. Class
i. Those in power tend to be upper class
ii. Parties and drinking are a part of diplomacy
h. Middle Powermanship
i. Diplomats get funding to look good
i. Free riding?
i. The US feels that Canada free rides
1. Particularly with NATO
2. Defence
ii. The US has leverage over us
j. Mission Civilsatrice?
i. “Beneath every Canadian works a missionary”
1. Canada is kind of smug
2. “The world needs more Canada”
VII. Biases in the Study of American Foreign Study
a. American exceptionalism
b. Mission Civilsatrice
 c. Action
i. Not stand by and let things happen, but rather make things happen
bigly
d. East Coast Bias
i. Federal politics
VIII. Central Questions
a. Status on the world stage
b. What should foreign policy be?
c. Is there a dichotomy between interests and values?
d. Rank – international presence
i. Rank comes from four things
1. How powerful are you
2. What you believe your rank is
3. Your founding myths
4. Your asserted position
5. Adaptive resilience
ii. Rank only comes from the recognition of other nations
e. International behaviour:
i. Activity
1. Interaction with other states
ii. Association
1. Who do you align/affiliate with?
2. What groups do you keep membership in?
3. What do your treaties do?
4. What do you spend your time on?
a. Ex) the US and North Korea
iii. Approach to World Order
1. States try to influence the international order in a way that
can help their views and agenda
f. Determinants of International Behaviour:
i. External determinants
1. How much do other countries affect that state?
2. How sensitive is a state to external determinants?
ii. Societal Determinants
1. Domestic organizations
iii. Governmental Determinants
10/09/18______________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION Pt. III
I. Canada-US tensions
a. War of 1812
b. Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1818
c. The Convention of 1818
d. Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842
e. Oregon dispute 1818-1846
f. Pig war of 1859
g. Fenian raids of 1866-1871