While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World [Paperback]

Andrew Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 2004

For how much longer can Canada expect to get a free ride?

With 9/11 and the international “war on terrorism,” the time has come to ask some hard questions. Should we continue to starve our military, reduce our humanitarian assistance, dilute our diplomacy, and absent ourselves from global intelligence-gathering? Can we expect to sit at the global table by virtue of our economic power without pursuing a foreign policy worthy of our history, geography, and diversity?

Canada has been getting by on the cheap, writes Andrew Cohen in this timely, forceful, and insightful new book. Our reluctance to pay our own way has had a cost: it has eroded the pillars of our international stature. We are still trading on the reputation this country built two generations ago, but it is a reputation we no longer deserve. We claim to be engaged abroad, but for too long we have been a freeloader, trying to do the same for less, practising pinch-penny diplomacy and foreign policy on the cheap. Our capacity in these key areas has become glaringly inadequate, and now that weakness is compromising our ability to honour our traditional commitments overseas.

The time is ripe for a thorough re-examination of our foreign policy, to affirm our values, to win the respect of our allies, to carry our weight.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

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



From the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

For how much longer can Canada expect to get a free ride?

With 9/11 and the international ?war on terrorism,? the time has come to ask some hard questions. Should we continue to starve our military, reduce our humanitarian assistance, dilute our diplomacy, and absent ourselves from global intelligence-gathering? Can we expect to sit at the global table by virtue of our economic power without pursuing a foreign policy worthy of our history, geography, and diversity?

Canada has been getting by on the cheap, writes Andrew Cohen in this timely, forceful, and insightful new book. Our reluctance to pay our own way has had a cost: it has eroded the pillars of our international stature. We are still trading on the reputation this country built two generations ago, but it is a reputation we no longer deserve. We claim to be engaged abroad, but for too long we have been a freeloader, trying to do the same for less, practising pinch-penny diplomacy and foreign policy on the cheap. Our capacity in these key areas has become glaringly inadequate, and now that weakness is compromising our ability to honour our traditional commitments overseas.

The time is ripe for a thorough re-examination of our foreign policy, to affirm our values, to win the respect of our allies, to carry our weight. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart (March 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 077102276X
• ISBN-13: 978-0771022760
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,200,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 16, 2004

By 

P. Smy (Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World (Paperback)

I wish every Canadian politician would read this book. I was afraid at first that Cohen would be a bit too partisan - he has presented before House of Commons Special Comittee's - but it is not. It is firstly a guideline to how Canada can attempt to pull itself out of it's (our!) apathetic slump. Secondly it is a fascinating, all be it partial, history of Canada's famed Diplomatic and International dealings.
Please buy a copy and send it to your MP.
Oh, and I don't know what that other reviewer was talking about - a good section of the book deals with the world changing and thereby Canada's role changing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great narrative, but could use a little more context, August 14, 2003

By 

Public policy consultant (Toronto, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World (Hardcover)

This book was a good read, and provided a great overview of Canada's post-war foreign policy. Cohen also nicely incorporates the thoughts and lives of Hume Wrong, Norman Robertson and Lester Pearson into the narrative. As I suspect most will sheepishly admit, I had never heard of the first two! At just over 200 pages, this book doesn't waste your time, and you get a lot out of it.

My only complaint with the book is that it could have had more context for some of the discussions. For instance, Cohen describes how Canada's foreign aid is too thinly distributed across to many countries and programs. While this is true, Canada is hardly unique in this regard. The entire development community and the World Bank can all be accused of this to a great extent (see, for instance, William Easterly's "The Elusive Quest for Growth" and recent article "The Cartel of Good Intentions" in Foreign Policy, plus Jessica Einhorn's "The World Bank's Mission Creep" in Foreign Affairs). As the definition of "development" expands, it's hard not to spend on health, education, governance, legal reform, etc., etc. Otherwise you could well be accused of the simple, narrow-minded economic policy interventions of the past, and with a fair amount of justification.

Similarly, Cohen also describes a staff retention crisis at the foreign affairs department. This was eye-opening, but I also had no sense of how specific these problems of retention of good staff were to the department or whether they reflected the problems all organizations have had in the past decade or so training and retaining good professional staff. The situation does sound serious though, and he documents it well.

All in all, a good, quick read. I recommend it highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful read for any Canadian, April 3, 2004

By 

Matthew B. Routley (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World (Paperback)

I would recommend this book to any Canadian interested in our nation's place in the world. This book examines the foundation behind many of our national myths and demonstrates the decline in our stature and influence. The book isn't simply a litany of problems, it also suggests what could be done to improve the situation. At the very least, these issues deserve a national debate, not the gradual decline through neglect that is currently happening.