Suchergebnisse

This paper frames the contemporary challenge of the People's Republic of China in the context of Cold War history. It shows how apparent echoes of the past—Beijing's continued embrace of "socialism;" a partnership with Russia that recalls the Sino–Soviet alliance—help illuminate the sources and nature of present-day East–West conflict, and suggests that Francis Fukuyama's much-pilloried "End of History?" has been misunderstood. Viewing the twenty-first-century standoff with Chinese (and Russian) authoritarianism in historical perspective, the paper concludes, casts prospects for the West more positively than recent conventional wisdom would suggest.

This paper examines how China and Russia play into the opportunities and constraints that shape Canadian foreign policy. While both countries contribute significantly to the challenges of twenty-first-century world politics, neither is a juggernaut: both face serious internal difficulties and fear the West in ways that should temper our preoccupation with relative decline. The paper concludes that, by seeing these authoritarian powers as more fragile than frightening, Canada can worry less about how engagement might be seen to reward bad behaviour and more about beneficial outcomes in areas that serve Canadian interests.