Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T08:25:32.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Canada in the United Nations General Assembly from Trudeau to Trudeau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2019

Srdjan Vucetic Open the ORCID record for Srdjan Vucetic [Opens in a new window]  and
Bojan Ramadanovic
Srdjan Vucetic*
Affiliation:
Public and International Affairs, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, 120 University, FSS 6005D, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5
Bojan Ramadanovic
Affiliation:
Complex Systems Modelling Group, SFU's Big Data Hub, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: svucetic@uOttawa.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

All Canadian governments say that Canada must look to its friends and allies and like-minded partners to achieve greater cooperation on global issues. But who are these countries exactly? To gain a better understanding of where Ottawa stands in the world, with whom and under what conditions, we analyze Canada's voting patterns in the United Nations General Assembly from 1980 to 2017. We find that Canada's overall record tends toward that of Western European states. We find no evidence of greater affinity with US positions either when the Democrats are in power in Washington or when the conservative parties are in power in Ottawa. We identify a sharp pro-US turn in the Harper years and also confirm that the government of Justin Trudeau started off by maintaining rather than reversing this trend.

Résumé

Résumé

Le gouvernement canadien dit toujours que le Canada doit compter sur ses partenaires aux mêmes sensibilités pour obtenir une plus grande coopération sur les enjeux mondiaux. Mais que sont ces pays exactement ? Pour mieux comprendre comment Ottawa se positionne dans le monde, avec qui et dans quelles conditions structurelles, nous analysons l'affinité de certains pays avec le Canada à l'Assemblée générale des Nations Unies entre 1980 et 2017. Tout d'abord, nous constatons que, dans l'ensemble, le vote du Canada tend vers celui des États d'Europe Occidentale. Deuxièmement, nous ne trouvons aucune preuve d'affinité avec les positions américaines, que les démocrates soient au pouvoir à Washington ou que le parti conservateur règne à Ottawa. Troisièmement, nous identifions un fort mouvement pro-américain pendant les années Harper et non seulement sur les votes exprimés sur les résolutions concernant le Moyen-Orient.

Keywords

Canadian foreign policyTrudeaucontinentalismUnited Nations General AssemblyPolitique étrangère canadienneTrudeaucontinentalismeAssemblée générale des Nations Unies
Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 79 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrahamsen, Rita, Riis-Andersen, Louise and Sending, Ole Jacob. 2019. “Introduction: Making Liberal Internationalism Great Again?” International Journal 74 (1): 47–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alker, Hayward R. and Russett, Bruce. 1965. World Politics in the General Assembly. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bailey, Michael and Voeten, Erik. 2018. “A Two-Dimensional Analysis of Seventy Years of United Nations Voting.” Public Choice 176 (1-2): 33–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, Michael A., Lee, Cathy and Voeten, Erik. 2018. “Trump Makes Longtime Allies Nervous: Here's How We Measured This.” The Monkey Cage, August 31. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/08/31/trump-makes-longtime-allies-nervous-heres-how-we-measured-this/?utm_term=.0f6fc03ac456.Google Scholar
Bailey, Michael A., Strezhnev, Anton and Voeten, Erik. 2017. “Estimating Dynamic State Preferences from United Nations Voting Data.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 61 (2): 430–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baturo, Alexander, Dasandi, Niheer and Mikhaylov, Slava J.. 2017. “Understanding State Preferences with Text as Data: Introducing the UN General Debate Corpus.” Unpublished manuscript. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.02774.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, Duncan and Vucetic, Srdjan. 2019. “Brexit, CANZUK, and the Legacy of Empire.” British Journal of Politics and International Relations 21 (2): 367–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binette, Pierre and De Courval, P.. 2014. “Solidarité ou solitude? L’évolution de la politique étrangère canadienne au Conseil des droits de l'Homme.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 20 (1): 73–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, David R. and Smith, Heather A.. 2014. “Still Notable: Reassessing Theoretical ‘Exceptions’ in Canadian Foreign Policy Literature.” International Journal 69 (1): 133–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxland, John C. 2006. Strategic Cousins: Australian and Canadian Expeditionary Forces and the British and American Empires. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Boily, Frédéric. 2016. Stephen Harper: La fracture idéologique d'une vision du Canada. Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval.Google Scholar
Bow, Brian. 2008. “Parties and Partisanship in Canadian Defence Policy.” International Journal 64 (1): 67–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bow, Brian and Lennox, Patrick. 2008. An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada? Challenges and Choices for the Future. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carney, C. P. 1989. “International Patron-Client Relationships: A Conceptual Framework.” Studies in Comparative International Development 24 (2): 42–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CBC News. 2017. “Canada Abstains as UN General Assembly Backs Resolution to Nullify U.S. Move on Jerusalem.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-jerusalem-un-1.4460257.Google Scholar
Chapnick, Adam. 2016. “Stephen Harper's Israel Policy.” In The Harper Era in Canadian Foreign Policy, Parliament, Politics, and Canada's Global Posture, ed. Chapnick, Adam and Kukucha, Christopher J.. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Chapnick, Adam and Kukucha, Christopher J.. 2016. The Harper Era in Canadian Foreign Policy: Parliament, Politics, and Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Charron, Andrea. 2018. “The United Nations and Trudeau's Quest for a Security Council Seat—Liberal Destiny, National Interests, a Foil to Harper or None of the Above?” In Justin Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy, ed. Hillmer, N. and Lagassé, P.. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Clarkson, Stephen. 1968. An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada? Toronto: McLelland and Stewart.Google Scholar
Cooper, Andrew, Higgott, Richard and Nossal, Kim Richard. 1993. Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Cronin, Bruce. 2001. “The Paradox of Hegemony: America's Ambiguous Relationship with the United Nations.” European Journal of International Relations 7 (1): 103–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crosby, Ann D. 1998. “A Middle-Power Military in Alliance: Canada and NORAD.” Journal of Peace Research 34 (1): 37–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeBardeleben, Joan and Leblond, Patrick. 2010. “The Other Transatlantic Relationship: Canada, the EU, and 21st-Century Challenges.” International Journal 66 (1): 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Leeuw, Jan. 2005. “Principal Component Analysis of Senate Voting Patterns.” In Real Data Analysis, ed. Sawilowski, Shlomo. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
De Leeuw, Jan. 2006. “Principal Component Analysis of Binary Data by Iterated Singular Value Decomposition.” Computational Statistics & Data Analysis 50 (1): 21–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of National Defence. 2017. Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada's New Defence Policy. Ottawa: Government of Canada.Google Scholar
Dolman, Anthony J. 1979. “The Like-Minded Countries and the New International Order: Past, Present and Future Prospects.” Cooperation and Conflict 14 (2): 57–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorion-Soulié, Manuel. 2014. “Les idées mènent le Canada: L'idéologie néoconservatrice en politique étrangère canadienne.” Études internationales 45 (4): 507–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gecelovsky, Paul and Kukucha, Chris. 2008. “Much Ado about Parties: Conservative and Liberal Approaches to Canada's Trade Policy with the United States.” International Journal 64 (1): 29–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gifkins, Jess, Jarvis, Samuel and Ralph, Jason. 2019. “Global Britain in the United Nations. UNA-UK.” https://www.una.org.uk/file/13085/download?token=cl0pgYF-.Google Scholar
Gindin, Sam and Panitch, Leo, 2012. The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Häge, Frank M. and Hug, Simon. 2016. “Consensus Decisions and Similarity Measures in International Organizations.” International Interactions 42 (3): 503–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haglund, David. 2005. “Relating to the Anglosphere: Canada, ‘Culture,’ and the Question of Military Intervention.” Journal of Transatlantic Studies 3 (2): 179–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hecht, Catherine. 2016. “The Shifting Salience of Democratic Governance: Evidence from the United Nations General Assembly General Debates.” Review of International Studies 42 (5): 915–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofmann, Stephanie C. 2013. European Security in NATO's Shadow: Party Ideologies and Institution Building. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ibbitson, John. 2019. “Chrystia Freeland on NAFTA, Huawei and Canada's Relationship with China.” Globe and Mail, May 26. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-chrystia-freeland-on-nafta-huawei-and-canadas-relationship-with/.Google Scholar
Innis, Harold A. 1952. The Strategy of Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Lagassé, Philippe, Massie, Justin and Roussel, Stéphane. 2014. “Le néoconservatisme en politiques étrangère et de défense canadiennes.” In Le fédéralisme selon Harper: La place du Québec dans le Canada conservateur, ed. Castro-Rea, Julian and Boily, Frédéric. Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval.Google Scholar
Lockwood Payton, Autumn. 2010. “Consensus Procedures in International Organizations.” Max Weber Working Paper Series: EUI MWP 2010/22. Florence: Max Weber Programme. http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/14381/MWP_2010_22.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.Google Scholar
Long, David. 2003. “Transatlantic Relations and Canadian Foreign Policy.” International Journal 58 (4): 591–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacMechan, Archibald. 1920. “Canada as a Vassal State.” Canadian Historical Review 1 (4): 347–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacMillan, Margaret and McKenzie, Francine. 2003. Parties Long Estranged: Canada and Australia in the 20th Century. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Marquis, Melanie. 2018. “Trudeau Defends Canada's No-Vote on Jerusalem.” National Post, January 16. https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/trudeau-defends-canadas-position-on-jerusalem-at-united-nations.Google Scholar
Martin, Pierre. 2012. “U.S. Elections and the Canadian Economy: Is a Republican in the White House Really What's Best for the Canadian Economy?” International Journal 67 (2): 685–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massie, Justin. 2013. Francosphère: L'importance de la France dans la culture stratégique du Canada. Montreal: Presses de l'Université du Québec.Google Scholar
Massie, Justin and Roussel, Stéphane. 2013. “The Twilight of Internationalism? Neocontinentalism as an Emerging Dominant Idea in Canadian Foreign Policy.” In Canada in the World: Internationalism in Canadian Foreign Policy, ed. Smith, Heather A. and Sjolander, Claire Turenne. Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Massie, Justin and Vucetic, Srdjan. 2017. “Canadian Strategic Culture from Confederation to Trump.” Paper presented at the Canadian Defence Policy Workshop, University of Ottawa, December 8. https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/2ewxg/.Google Scholar
Maull, Hanns. 2000. “Germany and the Use of Force: Still a ‘Civilian Power’?” Survival 42 (2): 56–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLauchlin, Theodore. 2017. “Partnerships in Military Interventions and the Canadian Public.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (3): 773–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mérand, Frédéric and Vandemoortele, Antoine. 2009. “L'Europe dans la culture stratégique canadienne, 1949–2009.” Études internationales 40 (2): 241–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molot, Maureen Appel. 1990. “Where Do We, Should We, or Can We Sit? A Review of Canadian Foreign Policy Literature.” International Journal of Canadian Studies 1 (2): 77–96.Google Scholar
Musu, Costanza. 2012. “Canada and the MENA Region: The Foreign Policy of a Middle Power.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 18 (1): 65–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mycock, Andrew and Wellings, Ben, eds. 2019. The Anglosphere: Continuity, Dissonance and Location. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nimijean, Richard. 2018. “Introduction: Is Canada Back? Brand Canada in a Turbulent World.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 24 (2): 127–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nossal, Kim Richard. 2013. “The Liberal Past in the Conservative Present: Internationalism in the Harper Era.” In Canada in the World: Internationalism in Canadian Foreign Policy, ed. Smith, Heather A. and Sjolander, Claire Turenne. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nossal, Kim Richard, Roussel, Stéphane and Paquin, Stéphane. 2015. The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
O'Connor, Brendon and Vucetic, Srdjan. 2010. “Another Mars/Venus Divide? Why Australia Said ‘Yes’ and Canada Said ‘Non’ to Involvement in the 2003 Iraq War.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 64 (5): 526–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paquin, Jonathan. 2018. “US Partisan Perceptions of Stephen Harper's Shift in Foreign Policy.” International Journal 73 (2): 282–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paquin, Jonathan and Beauregard, Philippe. 2013. “Shedding Light on Canada's Foreign Policy Alignment.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 46 (3): 617–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paquin, Stéphane and Chaloux, Annie. 2009. “Comment vit-on aux marges de l'Empire? Les relations Canada–États-Unis et la nature de la relation transatlantique.” Études Internationales 40 (2): 201–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roussel, Stéphane and Morin, David. 2007. “Les multiples incarnations de la culture stratégique et les débats qu'elles suscitent.” In Culture Stratégique et politique de défense: L'expérience Canadienne, ed. Roussel, Stéphane. Outremont: Athéna éditions.Google Scholar
Seligman, Steven. 2016. “Canada and the United Nations General Assembly (1994–2015): Continuity and Change under the Liberals and the Conservatives.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 22 (3): 276–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seligman, Steven. 2018. “Canada’s Israel Policy under Justin Trudeau: Rejecting or Reinforcing the Legacy of Stephen Harper?” American Review of Canadian Studies 48 (1): 80–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sending, Ole Jacob, Pouliot, Vincent and Neumann, Iver B., eds. 2015. Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Heather. 2003. “Disrupting Internationalism and Finding the Others.” In Feminist Perspectives on Canadian Foreign Policy, ed. Sjolander, Claire Turenne, Smith, Heather A. and Stienstra, Deborah. Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Heather, 2008. “Political Parties and Canadian Climate Change Policy.” International Journal 64 (1): 47–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Heather A. and Sjolander, Claire Turenne, eds. 2013. Canada in the World: Internationalism in Canadian Foreign Policy. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Karen E. 2000. “The End of Civilian Power Europe: A Welcome Demise or Cause for Concern?” International Spectator 35 (2): 11–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Karen E. 2017. “EU Member States at the UN: A Case of Europeanisation Arrested?” Journal of Common Market Studies 55 (3): 628–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokolsky, Joel J. 1989. “A Seat at the Table: Canada and Its alliances.” Armed Forces and Society 16 (1): 11–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, Robert J. 1962. “Canada’s Long Term Strategic Situation.” International Journal 17 (3): 199–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US Department of State. 2018. “Voting Practices in the United Nations 2017 Report to Congress Submitted Pursuant to Public Laws 101-246 and 108-447.” https://www.state.gov/voting-practices-in-the-united-nations-2017/.Google Scholar
Voeten, Erik. 2004. “Resisting the Lonely Superpower: Responses of States in the United Nations to US Dominance.” Journal of Politics 66 (3): 729–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voeten, Erik. 2011. “The Practice of Political Manipulation.” In International Practices, ed. Adler, E. and Pouliot, V.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Voeten, Erik. 2013. “Data and Analyses of Voting in the UN General Assembly.” In Routledge Handbook of International Organization, ed. B. Reinalda. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Voeten, Erik, Strezhnev, Anton and Bailey, Michael. 2009. United Nations General Assembly Voting Data. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/LEJUQZ, Harvard Dataverse, V20, UNF:6:pewd/JMymJQo6lXfbeBmCA== [fileUNF].Google Scholar
Vucetic, Srdjan. 2011a. “Bound to Follow? The Anglosphere and U.S.-led Coalitions of the Willing, 1950–2001.” European Journal of International Relations 17 (1): 27–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vucetic, Srdjan. 2011b. The Anglosphere: A Genealogy of a Racialized Identity in International Relations. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Vucetic, Srdjan. 2017. “A Nation of Feminist Arms Dealers? Canada and Military Exports.” International Journal 72 (4): 503–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vucetic, Srdjan and Tago, Atsushi. 2015. “Why Buy American? The International Politics of Fighter Jet Transfers.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 48 (1): 101–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warnock, John W. 1970. Partner to Behemoth: The Military Policy of a Satellite Canada. Chicago: New Press.Google Scholar
Welsh, Jennifer. 2005. “Reality and Canadian Foreign Policy.” In Canada among Nations 2005: Split Images, ed. Cooper, Andrew F. and Rowlands, Dane. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Woo, Byungwon and Chung, Eunbin. 2017. “Aid for Vote? United Nations General Assembly Voting and American Aid Allocation.” Political Studies 66 (4): 1002–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, Lana. 2017. “Revising Memories and Changing Identities: Canadian Foreign Policy under the Harper Government.” In Mapping Nations, Locating Citizens, ed. Hambly, Daniel. Toronto: Humber Press.Google Scholar
Zahar, Marie-Joëlle. 2015. “Navigating Troubled Waters: Canada in the Arab World.” In Elusive Pursuits: Lessons from Canada's Interventions Abroad, ed. Hampson, Fen Osler and Saideman, Stephen M.. Waterloo: The Centre for International Governance Innovation and Carleton University.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Vucetic and Ramadanovic supplementary material

Vucetic and Ramadanovic supplementary material

Download Vucetic and Ramadanovic supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 5.2 MB