The fragile authoritarians: China, Russia, and Canadian foreign policy

This paper examines how China and Russia play into the opportunities and constraints that shape Canadian foreign policy. While both countries contribute significantly to the challenges of twenty-first-century world politics, neither is a juggernaut: both face serious internal difficulties and fear the West in ways that should temper our preoccupation with relative decline. The paper concludes that, by seeing these authoritarian powers as more fragile than frightening, Canada can worry less about how engagement might be seen to reward bad behaviour and more about beneficial outcomes in areas that serve Canadian interests.