Since being elected as the Prime Minister of Canada on the 23rd of January 2006 , Stephen Harper and his Conservative government have taken many steps to distance themselves from the Liberal government that came before them. This has resulted in a sometimes-dramatic shift in national policy that follows the realist line of thinking. However, the government’s international policies still resemble those of the Liberal government before them, leaning closer to liberalism than that of the Republican government led by George W. Bush in the United States, to whom Prime Minister Harper attempts to please by both national and international policy . For these reasons, the ruling Conservative Party employs both the ideas of realism and liberalism when dealing with Canadian foreign policy.

   Machiavelli outlines in The Prince his belief that to protect freedom, a leader must use force . This is a classic characteristic of realism, and one that the Conservative government both adheres to, and does not. In the case of Afghanistan, the current government has just outlined in the Throne Speech of October 16th, 2007 that they wish to remain in Afghanistan as part of the UN-sanctioned mission, past the previously set date of February 2009, until 2011 . This desire to stay and fight the continuing Taliban insurgency to protect the freedom of the world is realist in nature, yet a liberal view is placed upon the situation by stating that there are “four million Afghan boys and two million girls who can dream of a better future because they now go to school. ” A key proponent of liberalism is the idea that education is an important tool in influencing peace around the world . Further, since the mission is UN-sanctioned it may be viewed as a liberalist mission as Bentham has described that international law is respected more so by liberal states .

   On the issue of Iraq, Stephen Harper and his party have taken an abrupt turn of policy since being elected, and since the effects of the War in Iraq on United State President George W. Bush, and the Republican Party’s popularity has been seen. In January of 2003, Stephen Harper stood in the House of Commons and announced that he was certain that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Later in March, he, and much of his party MP’s, made up the 50 votes against Canada staying out of Iraq during a Commons vote . According to Morgenthau, this desire to exert Canada’s national power is a component of Classical Realism as states are selfish and self-serving . Prime Minister Harper’s self-serving ideals are further exampled by his comments that “Canada remains alienated from its allies, shut out of the reconstruction process to some degree, unable to influence events. ” Again however, Prime Minister Harper exhibits a degree of liberalism later in 2005 when he states in an article to the Washington Times that he “support[s] the removal of Saddam Hussein and applaud the effort to establish democracy and freedom in Iraq” but would “not commit Canadian troops to that country. ” In regards to that quote, Paul Wells comments “how liberal of him ” in Maclean’s, and further highlights that Prime Minister Harper fell back upon the liberalist idea of International Organizations (IO’s) to promote cooperation on the international stage when stating: “ [it] was about putting pressure on Saddam to comply with UN resolutions”, and if Canada had done that “we could have avoided war. ”

   In the Throne Speech, the Harper government mentioned another important issue on the world stage, that being the uprising in Burma. In a liberalist action, the government said they would “call upon Parliament to confer honorary citizenship on Aung San Suu Kyi. ” This emphasis on the individual and her capacity to change her place in the world is another characteristic of liberalist thought . Prime Minister Harper and his Conservative government are also continuing with Canada’s tradition of participating in IO’s other than the UN: G8 Summits, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and others. Involvment in these organizations is one of the central assumptions of liberalist thought. It may be noted, however, that these organizations are made up of states, not invidivuals, which lends itself easily to the realist thought.

   Realism became popular during the period of the Cold War , whereas liberalism answered many of the questions in a post-Cold War world. Today, the government of Canada under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has moved back towards a realistic approach to international relations, similar to the position of that in the United States. However, no action the Harper government takes is purely based in realism, or purely in liberalism. This government has shown through its dealings of the War on Terror in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the Burma uprising and involvement in International Organization’s that while it more closely aligns itself with realist thought, it is still influenced by liberalism. Prime Minister Harper and the Conservatives have been combining both individual and state recognition and action, as well as downplaying the realistic approach to war with liberal views of education and participation only in International Organization sanctioned missions. For this, Canadian foreign policy under the Harper government draws both from realism and liberalism.


Works Cited

Bussey, Barry, "The Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper." Journal of Law & Religion. 07 30 2007. Pg 589- 599. 12 11 2007
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"International Organizations and Forums." Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. 10 01 2007. Government of Canada. 12 Nov 2007
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"Stephen Harper." New Internationalist. Issue 395. Vol. 10 2006. Pg 25. 12 11 2007
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Machiavelli, N., and G.A. Bull, "The Prince". New York: Penguin Books, 2005.

Morgenthau, H. J., "Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace". 4th. New York: Knopf, 1967.

Strong Leadership. A Better Canada." Speech from the Throne. 16 10 2007. Government of Canada. 12 Nov 2007
http://www.sft-ddt.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1364.

Wells, Paul, "Stephen Harper's twisted walk back on Iraq." Maclean's. Vol 120 Issue 3. 1 29 2007. Pg 10. 12 11 2007 http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=tnh&AN=23834645&site=ehost-live.

Zafirovski, Milan, "Liberal Moderninity and Its Adversaries: Freedom, Liberalism and Anti-Liberalism in the 21st Century". Neth.: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2007.