The Harper government and the de-democratization of Canadian foreign policy

The Harper government has sought to distance its approach to Canadian foreign policy from the multilateralist liberal internationalist tradition of its predecessors, asserting a “principled” foreign policy in line with its ideological world view and partisan electoral calculations. The Harper government has not seen fit to undertake any international policy review that includes parliamentary participation and public consultation. This stands in marked contrast to previous recent major changes of government, notably the Mulroney and Chrétien majority governments' initiation of extensive parliamentary and consultative review exercises in the 1980s and 1990s respectively. Rather than efforts aimed at a “democratization” of the Canadian foreign policy process, the Harper government has operated in ways that have constricted the domestic space for foreign policy debate. In addition, an early interest in Canadian democracy promotion abroad has disappeared to the point that Canada is doing less than before. A result of the current polarized and partisan atmosphere has been in effect a “de-democratization” of Canadian foreign policy. © 2014 NPSIA.