Canada and the United States in a Changing Global Context
| Author | Michael K. Hawes |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209104600101 |
| Date | 01 March 1991 |
| Published date | 01 March 1991 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MICHAEL
K.
HAWES
Canada
and
the
United
States
in
a
changing
global
context
In
an
incredibly
short period of
time
the postwar
international
system,
which
we
have
come
to
know
as
the
Pax
Americana
or
Bretton
Woods
system
and
which
we
have
come
to
understand
largely
in
terms
of
its
Cold
War
bipolar
realities
and
its
broad
commitment
to
multilateral institutions
and
ideas,
appears
to
have
all
but
vanished.
Dramatic changes
in
the
Soviet
Union,
the
drive
for
democratization
in
Eastern
Europe,
the
unification
of
Germany,
and
other
startling
events
have
turned
the
relatively
stable
postwar
world
on
its
head.
Virtually
everyone, from
the
analysts
on
the
evening
news
to
long-time
students
of
American
and
Soviet
foreign
policy,
is
declaring that
the
Cold War
has
ended.
Some,
such
as
Francis
Fukuyama,
have
gone
so
far
as
to
argue
that
history
as
we
know
it
has
ended.
Although
the
re-mixing
of
Europe
is
at
the
centre
of
the
changing
international
system,
there
are
equally
profound
(if
less
obviously
dramatic)
changes
taking
place
at
the
global
level.
One
set
of
changes
has
to
do
with
the
relative
decline
ofAmerican
power
and
influence
-
along
with
the
attendant
rise
of
Germany,
Japan,
and
some
of
the
newly
industrializing
economies
-
and
the
increasing
ambiguity
with
respect
to
the
role
of the
United
States
in
the
world.
Another
set
of
changes
has
to
do
with
what
appears
to
be
a
failure
of
multilateralism
or,
at
least,
its
in-
creasing
confusion
as
exemplified
in
the
inability to
bring
the
Associate
Professor
of
Political
Studies,
Queen's
University,
and
co-director
(with
Keith
Banting and
Richard
Simeon)
of
the
Canada-United
States
project
in
the
School
of
Policy
Studies.
International
Journal
XLVI
winter
1990-i
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