Between Actor and Presence: The European Union and the Future for the Transatlantic Relationship

Chapter 10. Conclusion: The Decline of the Atlanticist Tradition in Canadian Foreign Policy

10 Conclusion: The Decline of the Atlanticist Tradition in Canadian Foreign Policy KIM RICHARD NOSSAL Introduction Given the profound changes in European politics outlined in the preceding chapters, it might be expected that Canadians would have sought to develop a more comprehensive approach to the new Europe as both "actor" and "presence" in Canadian foreign policy. However, as the various contributors to this volume make clear, many of the shifts in European politics have not generated much interest in Canada. On the contrary: as Europe has emerged as an international actor in its own right, the European presence in Canadian foreign policy has steadilydiminished. It can be argued that there is a certain irony in the evolution of contemporary Canadian policy toward Europe, for historically Canadians have conceived of their country as intimatelyconnected to "Europe." Particularly since the Second World War, Canadians have been attracted by an idea that became deeply embedded in the practice of Canadian foreign policy—the idea that Canada is an "Atlantic" nation. In other words, Canadians regard their nation as European as well as North American. This notion has been an integral part of the way in which Canadians have identified themselves since Confederation , if not before. In historical perspective, the two European nations from whence so many Canadians came, Britain and France, were frequently described in Canadian political discourse in essentially maternal terms; Canadians' attachment to, and identification with, one or the other (or both) of the "mother countries" wasno less umbilical. Such identification had been deeply tied to the evolution 224 BETWEEN ACTOR AND PRESENCE of politics in North America after the American colonies declared their independence in 1776,with those who remained in British North America maintaining deep transatlantic ties. By contrast, the idea that Canada is an "Atlantic" nation is of more recent vintage, dating back to the Second World War and the transatlantic cooperation between the United States and Britain. The idea that Canada was an "Atlantic" country had a profound impact on the evolution of the Canadian approach to Europe in the decades after 1945. It helped shape the Canadian government 's approach to national security, particularly on the crucial question of how to ensure that the United States would commit its resources to the protection of the countries of Western Europe. However , as time passed, the relevance of the Atlantic idea for Canadians diminished considerably. By the end of the century, Canadiangovernments continued to pay ritual obeisance to the Atlanticist tradition , and Ottawa continued to be militarily engaged in European affairs. But it can be argued that bythe time Canada participated with its other NATO partners in bombing attacks against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999,what remained of the Atlantic idea was largely rhetorical. Atlanticism and Canadian Foreign Policy The origins of the "Atlantic idea" itself are somewhat obscure. F. H. Hinsley reminds us that the idea of an Atlantic community of interests involving the Anglo-American democracies wasembraced in the early 19thcentury bythe peace movements that were seeking to overcome the rivalries of contending nationalisms on both sides of the Atlantic.1 Robert Wolfe suggests that in the context of Canadian political discourse, Atlanticismcan be traced back to the Washington Treaty of 1871 and the emerging common outlook on world politics of the United States and Britain.2 However, when it wasused in the middle of the 20th century, there is little doubt that the notion of Atlanticism was defined more narrowly. "Atlanticism" was an idea, embraced by the leaders of Britain, the United States, Canada, and the European countries occupied by Nazi Germany, that had its roots in the early days of the Second World War.The core of the idea wasto bind the United States CONCLUSION: THE DECLINE OF THE ATLANTICIST TRADITION 225 and Britain in common cause, and this idea wasexpressed in numerous speeches and joint declarations of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, both before and after the United States declared war on Germany. The Atlantic Charter of August 1941, setting out both the wartime and the post-war goals of the Anglo-American allies, stands as the exemplar of the Atlantic sentiment at work. Post-war Atlanticism expanded on the original Anglo-American focus of the Atlantic idea to include France and the other Western European countries liberated from German occupation and, in a few short years, Germany itself. The post-war...