Canada, Multilateralism and Multipolarity: Navigating the Emerging Order

Abstract

Multilateralism has been a cornerstone of Canadian foreign policy since World War II and has traditionally provided Canada with the opportunity to both pursue its national interests while also promoting normative values. Canada’s approach to multilateralism throughout the Cold War years allowed for Canada to pursue its interests and align with the US, while also promoting concepts and norms like peacekeeping, economic development, human rights, and environmentalism, acting in areas where other states, particularly larger powers, were limited by virtue of the systemic constraints posed by the bipolar structure of the international system. As the international system continues its evolution toward a multipolar structure, Canada’s use of multilateralism will become even more essential given the issues that will dominate Canada’s foreign policy agenda, and the uncertainty created by the evolving international order.