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Globalization and the shifting tectonic plates of the international system have led to an increasingly competitive world. If Canada hopes to gain advantage from the dramatic developments underway, Derek Burney and Fen Hampson argue it will have to aggressively adapt its foreign and domestic policies or accept being left behind.
In Brave New Canada, Derek Burney and Fen Hampson identify the major trends that are reshaping the world’s geopolitics and economics.
We’ve put together a list of the five key challenges facing the country in today’s changing world.
1. The U.S. is more focused on itself
“Any reset of Canadian foreign policy must begin with a careful examination of relations with the United States, which is still the biggest elephant in the room. (…) The more opaque the Obama administration’s foreign policy has become, the more difficult it is for allies and foes alike to take Washington seriously, a point underscored in spades when foreign policy announcements are made by the president on late-night talk shows! Canada is not immune from the implications of the lone superpower functioning on global issues with diminished credibility. (…) Our partnership has enormous advantages for Canada, notably in the economic sector and in terms of our security. But these ties also give us a comfort zone that breeds complacency.”
2. The global economy is rapidly transforming
“The global economy is experiencing dramatic shifts in economic power with the rise of so-called emerging economies, notably China, but also countries like India, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam, Turkey, and Indonesia, and the prominent role of state-owned enterprises in the economic policies and strategies of these countries. Many of these economies experienced double-digit-level growth during the past decade while western economies were sluggish and generally stuck in the doldrums. (…)The US will unquestionably remain a dominant economic player in the global economy because of its size, diversity, and capacity for innovation, but its relative power and influence in global markets will diminish as the economies of the developing world grow.”
3. International institutions are becoming increasingly irrelevant
“Although dedicated ‘revival internationalists’ will rankle at the suggestion, the painful reality is that the international institutions that guided and stabilized global events in the post-Second World War era, specifically the UN, the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF [International Monetary Fund], World Bank, and GATT/WTO [General Agreement on Tariff and Trade/World Trade Organization]), and even our main security alliance, NATO, are losing their lustre, their relevance, and their utility. Uncertainty rather than stability is the order of the day.”
4. New geostrategic rivalries and threats are emerging
“Analysts have not settled on a common label to describe the world in the second decade of the twenty-first century. They tend to agree that the unipolar moment following the end of the Cold War when the US was only remaining superpower is over. Some refer to our new world as a G-zero world, because no single country dominates the global agenda. Others argue that we are living in an era of failed states because of chronic instability in many regions of the world, especially in the Middle East, Central Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. (…) New security threats are also emerging from cyberspace, while old threats, such as the danger stemming from nuclear proliferation, have grown as a result of Iran and North Korea’s efforts to acquire the bomb, and containment measures for either don’t seem to be working.”
5. Pluralistic democratic values are under siege
“The values cherished by western democracies are now in a minority in global assemblies, a real low point being the 2014 election of Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China, and Russia to the UN Human Rights Council. Religious zealotry and nationalism are in the ascendant. (…) The dramatic surge of China’s economy under monopolistic state capitalism, warts and all, is shaking many conventional theories of governance. (…) Orwellian revelations of cyberspace monitoring of phone calls and Internet exchanges add to disillusionment if not mistrust about those in power. The essential balance between liberty and security is being tested in western democracies as never before.”
To learn more about Brave New Canada, click here.
For media requests, please contact Jacqui Davis.
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