essays on Canada and the Early Cold War, 1943-1957--

"The political scientist Denis Stairs substitutes Metternich for Kant as the inspiration behind Canadian policy. Steeped in a European realist tradition, Canadian politicians and diplomats acknowledged the fundamental importance of power and geography in determining a state's foreign policy. " Security politics," Stairs argues, "were geopolitics ." A classic balance of power analysis, reinforced by Ottawa's experience with the Great Powers during the Second World War, determined Canada's pragmatic approach to reconstructing international order after the war. Canadian interpretations of Soviet and American behaviour in the initial phase of the Cold War, the focus of Stairs 'work ,were also shaped by traditional geopolitical considerations. Hence, for Canadian diplomats, carefully controlled calculations of power and national interest - not ideology - were crucial in developing an effective diplomatic strategy in the Cold War context."