Bohdan S. Kordan and Mitchell C.G. Dowie - Canada And The Ukrainian Crisis

In the latter half of the twentieth century, two major theoretical frameworks dominated the academic field of international relations. Liberal internationalism would recognize the important part that democracy, free trade, and multilateralism played in achieving a postwar peace dividend. In contrast, political realism emphasized the strategic importance of power and national interest in a competitive global system. During the Cold War, the majority of Canadian scholars used one or the other doctrine to help situate and explain Canadas foreign policy. By 201415, however, these proved limited in addressing the changing nature of international relations and the reworked assumptions behind Canadas strategic and political interests. This constituted a serious shortcoming. Indeed, regarding Canadas response under Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Russias aggression against Ukraine in 2014, these frameworks either failed to accurately capture the meaning, dynamics, and substance of what was at issue, or gave rise to speculative narratives about the Harper governments response.

Two accounts, in particular, stand out. The first casts the crisis as part of a wider debate about the Wests bellicose behaviour, which, it is said, unfairly targets Russia. The critics argue that Russias behaviour is in fact part of the normal functioning of the international system. Canadian interests, therefore, are best served by accepting the formers stature as a great power. Canada, they contend, should not permit itself to be drawn needlessly into a matter of little national importance or consequence. The second attributes the governments policy response to the allegedly outsized influence of the Ukrainian-Canadian diaspora and the need to gain electoral favour with this constituency.