Canadian Foreign Policy: Defining the National Interest

In Canadian Foreign Policy: Defining the National Interest Steven Holloway puts the policy back into foreign policy. By returning to the National Interest Perspective (NIP), this book provides an important method of analysis for foreign policy issues. As adopted here, the NIP forces the reader to think explicitly about the goals of government action and the assumptions that underlie them. This approach requires planning ahead and prioritizing Canadian objectives. It demands that Canada set aside the preoccupation with the interests of each societal group, province, or region, and think about what is to the benefit of all Canadians. No matter how dissonant the resulting broad public debate might be, Steven Holloway advocates the importance of finding general, large-scale interests that unite the national political community. For the reader, this book organizes and simplifies the various threads of Canada’s foreign relations by concentrating them into a handful of enduring themes or national interests: national security (including territorial sovereignty), political autonomy, national unity, economic prosperity, and principled self-image (identity).