Abstract
The conventional wisdom that America is the sole superpower has been challenged by 9/11 as well as the 2008 global financial crisis and recession. As a result, Canada no longer relies on adjusting in advance to the US or seeking diplomatic capital by supporting it abroad. Rather, it provides global leadership in cases such as the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Increasingly, Canada accommodates a vulnerable America by trying to reconstruct global order to give reducing and rising powers their proper place. This article examines the systemic foundations for this shift in foreign policy and Stephen Harper government's changing foreign policy doctrine, distribution of core international resources and its key decisions in development at the G8 Muskoka Summit in 2010, in the economy in the newer G20 summit at Toronto in 2010, and in security in Libya in 2011.
Acknowledgements
I gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Zaria Shaw, Julia Kulik, and Sara Amini.