Whither Internationalism?

Abstract

Whither internationalism?ARE CANADIANS COMMITTED INTERNATIONALISTS or have they begun to turn inwards? Has necessity forced them to give greater priority to domestic issues? Have they chosen to become not merely disinterested in international affairs but more isolationist? Did these attitudes change with the end of the cold war or with a decade or more of retrenchment in international commitments by the federal government? Did they shift again in wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001? Will they do so in response to the war on Iraq?The purpose of this article is to begin to track Canadian public internationalism over time. The attitudes of the Canadian public toward involvement in international affairs have not traditionally been the subject of much serious scholarly attention. In contrast to an active and ongoing debate in the United States about the degree to which Americans support internationalist foreign policies, public opinion on foreign policy and internationalism has, until recently, been largely ignored by Canadian analysts. Certainly it has not been as closely or extensively studied as opinion elsewhere, and the examination of trends over time is still rare., Such temporal trends, more than snap-Professor of International Studies, University ofNorthern British Columbia. Funding for this research was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Northern British Columbia seeds grant program. Iam grateful to Suzanne LeBlanc for valuable comments on an earlier draft. Daniel Savas managed the 2001-2002 survey work at Ipsos-Reid. Assistance was provided by Chris Baker ofEnvironics, Bob Burge of the Queen's University Canadian Opinion Research Archive, and staff of Compas, Goldfar b Associates, and Decima Research. Michael Driedger prepared andformasted the datafilesfor much of the 1980s survey data used here. All the analysis herein employed spss, Version 10.i The first attempt to take a broad perspective on internationalism as a public phenomenon was Don Munton and Tom Keating, 'Internationalism and the Canadian INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Winter 2002-2003 Don Muntonshots from single polls, will be necessary to unravel the puzzle of Canadians' involvement with the world. REVIEWING THE DEBATEAlthough observers seem to agree that internationalism became the watchword of Canadian foreign policy during the so-called golden era of the early post-World War II years, debates have erupted regularly since the 1970s over the extent to which this internationalist tradition still holds. Some argue that Canadian policies in recent years have reflected a declining internationalism; others maintain that internationalism is with us still. More than a decade ago, Cranford Pratt noted an 'eroding' internationalist spirit in Canada, particularly amongst Ottawa officialdom. 2 Kim Richard Nossal charged more recently that the 1990s had witnessed 'a progressive retreat from internationalism,' which had been 'nailed to the perch' by the government of Jean Chr~tien and its '...

Popular Support for Economic Internationalism in Mainland China: A Six-Cities Public Opinion Survey

“…Moreover, the western conceptualization of internationalism suggests that there are at least three variants of internationalism in terms of "where and how resources should be committed and which common interests should be pursued and in what order" (Munton, 2003: 160): economic internationalism, liberal (or humane) internationalism, and conservative (or militant) internationalism (Hurwitz and Peffl ey, 1987;Munton, 2003;Munton and Keating, 2001;Pratt, 1989;Wittkopf, 1981Wittkopf, , 1990. At the core of liberal (or humane) internationalism is the acceptance by a country's citizens "that they have ethical obligations towards those beyond their borders" (Pratt, 1989: 13).…”

“…In order to address the fi rst research question regarding the degree of support for economic internationalism among ordinary Chinese citizens, we will fi rst defi ne economic internationalism according to the general typology of internationalism offered by western literature. Internationalism is an inclusive concept, and refers mainly to a country's commitment to be actively involved in the international community, to take responsibility for managing international confl ict and building international order, and to work multilaterally with other countries in solving "common" transnational issues (Hughes, 1985;Hurwitz and Peffl ey, 1987;Munton, 2003;Pratt, 1989;Wittkopf, 1990). As an analytical concept, internationalism stands opposite to isolationism.…”

“…Conservative (or militant) internationalism combines two beliefs: the importance of using military force in international affairs and the need for active involvement in the international community. Thus it emphasizes that military strength is the best means for managing international confl ict and building international order (Munton, 2003;Munton and Keating, 2001;Wittkopf, 1981Wittkopf, , 1990.…”

“…At the core of economic internationalism is the strong commitment of a country to an open international (or multilateral) trading system. Therefore, western scholars have operationalized economic internationalism as citizens' support for international trade, international investment, and closer economic ties with other countries (Munton, 2003;Munton and Keating, 2001;Pratt, 1989;Wittkopf, 1990).…”

“…Such support is typically gauged by citizens' evaluations of whether international trade, international investment, and closer economic ties with other countries are actually benefi cial for their country and their own daily life (for example, Munton, 2003;Munton and Keating, 2001;Watts, 1985).…”