A “Middle Power” in Strategic Dependence

This chapter analyzes the contemporary geopolitical trajectory of Canada during the twenty-first century, during the Harper (2006–2015) and Trudeau (2015–) governments. It argues that Canada’s stance on the world stage is characterized by a tension between its nostalgic middle power aspirations, its geographically induced strategic dependences toward the United States in a context of renewed “great power competition” in the Arctic and the Indo-Pacific, and domestic pressures that constrain its willingness to invest in its international policy. Acting as underlying variables are the omnipresent impacts of climate change, its diverse and dispersed non-urban communities, and its economy. As such, this chapter explicitly provides a multicausal understanding of Canada’s geopolitical behavior that accounts for the material, ideational, and domestic factors that act as constraints and drivers of state behavior.