Nicholas J. Cull and Michael K. Hawes, (eds.) Canada’s Public Diplomacy
Author | Eric Fillion |
Published date | 01 June 2021 |
Date | 01 June 2021 |
DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00207020211019310 |
Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
does not list the Kennedy administration’s (in)famous attempts to influence the 1962
and 1963 elections. Alongside leaking information and issuing public threats,
Kennedy’s top pollster, Lou Harris, provided substantial campaign assistance to
Lester Pearson. All this meets, in Levin’s model, the threshold of multiple criteria for
electoral interventions.
Such questions show the importance of further research on this crucial topic,
particularly as the history also shows quite clearly that electoral interventions are here
to stay. The book ends with important reflections on future developments. Because two-
thirds of electoral interventions involve campaign funding, cryptocurrencies seem an
important future source of potential problems. Levin recommends forbidding campaign
donations via cryptocurrencies to prevent this problem alongside banning all elected
officials, their families, political parties, and candidates from owning and purchas ing
cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Overall, Levin has written a deeply researched and thought-provoking book on
partisan electoral interventions with important implications for scholars and policy-
makers alike.
Nicholas J. Cull and Michael K. Hawes, (eds.)
Canada’s Public Diplomacy
Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. 238pp. $42.95 (paperback)
ISBN 978-3-319-62014-5
Reviewed by: Eric Fillion (eric.fillion@utoronto.ca), University of Toronto
Jia Panpan [Canadian Hope] and Jia Yueyue [Canadian Joy], the twin cubs of Da Mao
and his mate Er Shun, the two giant pandas that China loaned to Canada in 2013, turne d
one year old on 13 October 2016 while Justin Trudeau prepared to celebrate the
anniversary of his first year in office. The prime minister had been present at the
newborns’naming ceremony, which doubled as a photo op for his project to rebrand
the country andinject new life into its global engagement efforts. Theimage, which gave
his media profile an additional boost, appeared to substantiate the Liberals’promise of
a renewed, compassionate foreign policy. For this reason, it is an apt choice for the
cover of Nicholas J. Cull and Michael K. Hawes’sCanada’s Public Diplomacy,a
collection of essays that interrogate claims that Canada is “back”(14) and effectively
expanding its soft power influence on the world stage.
This book springs from a symposium, titled Rebooting Canadian Public Diplomacy,
held in 2016 at the University of Southern California (USC) to mark both the seventieth
anniversary of the Fulbright Program and the tenth anniversary of the USC Fulbright
Canada Research Chair in Public Diplomacy. If the Foundation for Educational Ex-
change between Canada and the United States of America (i.e., Fulbright Canada) does
not feature more prominently in this new addition to the Palgrave Macmillan series in
Global Public Diplomacy, it is because the book itself is a testament to the constructive
344 International Journal 76(2)
To continue reading
Request your trial