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Internationalism and the Canadian Public

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2001

Don Munton
Affiliation:
University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia
Tom Keating
Affiliation:
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

Extract

Internationalism has long been central to Canadian foreign policy. Although often invoked by governments and individuals, and much debated, it remains an ill-defined, even obscure concept. This article assesses empirically how the Canadian public regards internationalism, and explores the underlying structure of internationalist attitudes. Public opinion data from 1985 provide evidence of four dimensions of attitudes: active, economic, liberal-conservative and independent internationalism. There is a strong consensus on the first two types of internationalism but no such consensus behind the others. Scattered data from across the post-Second World War period seem to support these findings. Using such a typology of internationalism may both illuminate debates on Canadian foreign policy and advance studies of Canadian public attitudes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique

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