Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order

Australia and Canada have much in common and face many of the same problems in their international and political economic systems. Both countries are part of the post-1945 Western alliance system - Australia is a member of ANZUS and Canada of NATO and NORAD. As well, both are members of the OCED. Both, however, suffer from being mainly commodity-dependent economies and, to some extent, from their association with their major ally, the United States. Inevitably, both Australia's and Canada's foreign policies have reflected sensitivity to US actions and a commitment to economic and security systems established under American leadership since 1945. "Relocating Middle Powers" is a penetrating and innovative analysis of how these two states have dealt with changes in the international arena in the last decade. In particular, the three authors reformulate the concept of the "middle power" as a distinctive category in contemporary international relations. Instead of using traditional definitions based on the usual criteria of size, power, and locations, the authors focus on the entrepreneurial and technological capacities of Australia and Canada. The coming to power of Mikhail S. Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in 1985, and the subsequent transformations in international politics have resulted in declining tensions and a consequent waning of the Cold War. For Australia and Canada, this has meant that some of the more traditional, military/strategic foreign policy concerns have been replaced by mounting concern over the future of the international economic system.

Table of Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1 Leadership, Followership, and Middle Powers in International Politics: A Reappraisal 2 Changing with the International Agenda: State Reorganization and Middle Power Diplomacy 3 The Multilateral Economic Agenda: The Cairns Group and the Uruguay Round 4 The Regional Economic Agenda: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and North American Free Trade 5 The Security Agenda: Coalition-building and the Gulf Conflict 6 Addressing the Widening Global Agenda: Australian and Canadian Perspectives Conclusion Notes References Index

About the Author :
Andrew F. Cooper is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the International Relations Program, University of Waterloo. Richard A. Higgott is a professor in the Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra. Kim Nossal is a professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, McMaster University.

Review :
A welcome addition to the literature on the comparative study of Canadian and Australian foreign policy, this book also serves as a timely counter to the wave of literature exploring the "new world order" role of the United States; it reminds us that other players are present and can shape events. - Lawrence T. Woods (Canadian Book Review Annual) This well-organized and clearly written book succeeds in establishing that a focus on the intellectual and entrepreneurial leadership of middle powers yields a significant gain in explanatory power when used to complement more orthodox approaches to the collective action problems inherent to forging cooperative international institutions. For those seeking an antidote to the great power chauvinism and often parochial character of much American scholarship on questions of leadership, hegemony, cooperation and world order, Relocating Middle Powers provides an informative and provocative alternative. - David P. Rapkin (American Political Science Review)