Undiplomatic History: The New Study of Canada and the World by Asa McKercher, Philip Van Huizen (eds)
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702020930756 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Albright to convince the American public that the United States was the indis-
pensable nation.
Sayle’s tale is a reminder that the Cold War containment strategy was predi-
cated on the notion that the Soviet system would rot from within, just as the 1990s
Clinton administration strategy to enlarge the community of democracies was
predicated on the notion that Russia (and China) would become more democratic
if the West provided sufficient incentives. In the current state of “strategic com-
petition,” there is no longer any expectation (even if hope remains) that either
China or Russia will experience domestic change away from authoritarian rule,
thereby giving NATO a continued lease on life, even if some of its leaders believe
the alliance’s time has passed.
Asa McKercher, Philip Van Huizen (eds),
Undiplomatic History: The New Study of Canada and the World
Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019. 384 pp. $34.95 (paper)
ISBN: 978-0-7735-5695-9
Reviewed by: Stephen J. Randall (srandall@ucalgary.ca), The University of Calgary
The late Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote in Foreign Affairs (Fall, 1983) that foreign
policy is largely an extension of national character, “the face a nation wears to the
world.” From the 1960s, historians of United States foreign policy, especially,
significantly broadened the conceptualization and methodologies of what had
been traditional diplomatic history. Non-state actors increasingly played more
prominent roles, as did contextual factors, in explaining the roots and nature of
foreign policy. In his presidential address to the Society of American Foreign
Relations in 1978 as well as in Power and Culture (1981), Akira Iriye underlined
the importance of cultural factors in understanding foreign relations. Iriye’s notion
of culture was primarily ideological and political, however, and his focus continued
to be on political leadership and state actors. Other scholars broadened the notion
of culture, however, to incorporate high and popular culture (dance, music, and
sport, for instance), religion, gender, and race, among other non-traditional fac-
tors, to explain international relations.
The editors, Asa McKercher and Philip Van Huizen, and most, though not all,
of the authors in Undiplomatic History: The New Study of Canada and the World
contend that this broader approach to the writing of Canadian Foreign Policy was
somewhat slower in adoption by Canadian diplomatic historians. This interesting
and comprehensive collection of essays is intended as both a corrective to that
identified deficiency and as a potential road map for further study.
The editors have partitioned the volume into five sections. The first deals with
early dominion relations; the second with the environment and health; the third
with decolonization and liberation; a fourth with primarily Cold War topics; and a
final section broadly concerned with human rights and corporate rights. The topics
covered are diverse, from the politics of sanctuary in the mid-nineteenth century,
through the role of religion in Canadian transnational relations, environmental
272 International Journal 75(2)
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