PSCI 3606 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Core Countries, Problem Solving, Global Politics
11 Jun 2018
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Lecture 2
Canada as a satellite power to the US
• The idea of the satellite power, an individual power these are critical theory.
Problem solving/ critical theory
• Problem-solving theory takes the world as it finds it, with the prevailing social and power
relationships and the institutions into which they are organized, as the given framework
for action. The general aim of problem solving is to make these relationships and
institutions work smoothly by dealing effectively with particular sources of trouble.
• Critical theory does not take institutions and social and power relations for granted but
calls them into questions by concerning itself with their origins and how and whether
they might be in the process of changing. It is directed towards an appraisal of the very
framework for action, or problematic, which problem- solving theory accepts as its
parameters.
The image of Satellite power
• The satellite power image of Canada is principally centered on Canada’s relationship to
the US and the central role that this relationship has on our foreign policy.
• This perspective largely concentrated on the economic position of Canada and is divided
into three branches
- Drowning upon Marxist theories of international relations, Canada is seen as
secondary imperial power.
- Application of dependency theory to describe Canada as a “marginal colony”
especially in relations to the US → Canadians are depending very much on the US,
and this depended relationship has gotten worse over the time.
Marxist tradition in Global politics.
• Drawn from the writings of Karl Marx
- But Marx only discusses international relation in a tangential way
• Lenin’s idea of imperialism builds on Marx’s work on capitalist exploitation to introduce
the idea of a global division of labor.
- Lenin believed that globalized capitalism enables core countries to shift exploitation
to peripheral states and placate the working class in the core.
• Dependency theorists expanded upon this notion to argue that this relationship was a
structural feature of world capitalism
• There is a concept of history where this concept is
• Critique of capitalism, the system is build from exploitation and it is build from values.
• Revolutionary change
Conceptualizing Canada- Us relations
• The Canada- Us relationship is one of the key dynamics of Canadian foreign policy and
often dominates our foreign policy agenda.
• In 1968, Stephan Clarkson identifies two central approaches:
- The quite approach: nurturing the American relationship should have our highest
priority and our general strategy should be affiliation, or close alignment and
cooperation with our superpower neighbor to achieve maximum diplomatic power.
- The independent approach: our relations with the US are only special due to our
dependence on American trade and capital inflows, so pursuing independence will
create new opportunities that be exploited to further our national interest.
Conceptualizing Canada- US relations
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