by Andrew Cohen
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Canada emerged from World War II with the world's fourth-largest military and the infrastructure to build nuclear weapons if it wanted. Today, its military is a shadow of its once-glorious self, and Canada's diplomatic influence in the world is in decline, according to Andrew Cohen, a journalism professor at Ottawa's Carleton University. In his book While Canada Slept, Cohen laments the "aimlessness" of Canada's foreign policy and the "lethargy" of its politicians at a time of world turmoil. He admits he isn't the first to make the argument. His innovation is to survey Canada's once-great influence and its woeful present through the eyes of three pioneers of its foreign-affairs establishment: Hume Wrong, a legendary senior external affairs official; Norman Robertson, a clerk of the Privy Council; and Lester Pearson, the prime minister. The three men gave Canada a reputation for "punching above its weight" and contributed to Canada's towering diplomatic role of the 1950s and 1960s.
Cohen writes that the three would be saddened by what has become of their country. Canadians are a people "without memory," he suggests, citing a survey that found 88 percent of those aged 18 to 34 could not identify Pearson's role in defusing the Suez crisis in 1956. "We are no longer as strong a soldier, as generous a donor and as effective a diplomat, and it has diminished us as a people," he writes. While Cohen claims not to be partisan, he is especially critical of Jean Chrétien's government for cutting funds from the military, foreign aid, and diplomatic service. Some of Cohen's arguments have indeed been made before, and they fall flat at times. He doesn't explain, for example, why Canada should spend as much on the military as during the Korean War, when it devoured 7.3 percent of GDP. The book could also use an index. But generally it is a decent effort to enliven the dry issue of Canada's foreign policy and is most interesting as a survey of the country's diplomatic heyday. --Alex Roslin
Review
“Relentlessly chronicles just how far this country has fallen from global grace.”
–Ottawa Citizen
“In well-crafted prose and on a foundation of extensive knowledge of our diplomatic history, Cohen recounts a tale of how we have created… a make-believe foreign policy.”
–Richard Gwyn, Toronto Star
“A trenchant critique of modern Canadian foreign policy.”
–Time Magazine
“Cohen’s contribution is invaluable. A book full of… rich detail, written with passion and engaging prose.… A must read for all of those who wish to understand the roots of Canada’s global outlook.”
–Globe and Mail
“Mr. Cohen… has hit the bull’s-eye.”
–Jeffrey Simpson, Globe and Mail
“There could hardly be a better time for While Canada Slept, Andrew Cohen’s cogent and sobering survey of this country’s long slide into the margins of global importance.… A powerful indictment of how we’ve neglected our role in the world.”
–Victoria Times-Colonist
“Provocative and persuasive.… [Cohen’s] arguments are persuasive and ably defended in a book that is brisk, on the mark and wonderfully readable.”
–London Free Press
“Persuasive and compelling.… A long-awaited wake-up call to Canadians who have for years been blinded in a glare of self-satisfaction about their own international importance.”
–Halifax Chronicle-Herald
“Cohen has pulled together a well-written, engaging and timely book. This is clearly a must-read for all Canadians interested in our glorious past and in Canada having an influential voice in the world once again.”
–Montreal Gazette
“The articulation of foreign policy and the integration of its various elements (diplomatic, aid, military and financial) should be high on [the next prime minister’s] list of his or her policy challenges. If so, much will be owed to Andrew Cohen for this passionate, informative, entertaining and mostly convincing volume.”
–David Malone, Literary Review of Canada
" Excellent … This is an exceptionally easy book to read – popular but built on scholarship and masterly in its smooth transitions."
–Douglas Fisher, Legion Magazine
–Ottawa Citizen
“In well-crafted prose and on a foundation of extensive knowledge of our diplomatic history, Cohen recounts a tale of how we have created… a make-believe foreign policy.”
–Richard Gwyn, Toronto Star
“A trenchant critique of modern Canadian foreign policy.”
–Time Magazine
“Cohen’s contribution is invaluable. A book full of… rich detail, written with passion and engaging prose.… A must read for all of those who wish to understand the roots of Canada’s global outlook.”
–Globe and Mail
“Mr. Cohen… has hit the bull’s-eye.”
–Jeffrey Simpson, Globe and Mail
“There could hardly be a better time for While Canada Slept, Andrew Cohen’s cogent and sobering survey of this country’s long slide into the margins of global importance.… A powerful indictment of how we’ve neglected our role in the world.”
–Victoria Times-Colonist
“Provocative and persuasive.… [Cohen’s] arguments are persuasive and ably defended in a book that is brisk, on the mark and wonderfully readable.”
–London Free Press
“Persuasive and compelling.… A long-awaited wake-up call to Canadians who have for years been blinded in a glare of self-satisfaction about their own international importance.”
–Halifax Chronicle-Herald
“Cohen has pulled together a well-written, engaging and timely book. This is clearly a must-read for all Canadians interested in our glorious past and in Canada having an influential voice in the world once again.”
–Montreal Gazette
“The articulation of foreign policy and the integration of its various elements (diplomatic, aid, military and financial) should be high on [the next prime minister’s] list of his or her policy challenges. If so, much will be owed to Andrew Cohen for this passionate, informative, entertaining and mostly convincing volume.”
–David Malone, Literary Review of Canada
" Excellent … This is an exceptionally easy book to read – popular but built on scholarship and masterly in its smooth transitions."
–Douglas Fisher, Legion Magazine
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