Lost in the Global Economy

For the last two years, we Canadians have been told numerous times by the Harper government(s) that we have fared comparatively well due to their successful shepherding through the global economic downturn. Admittedly, this has largely been true. While the economy has suffered, we are in a better position, domestically, than many others. That said, how we as a country interact with the rest of the global economy looks to be a little more precarious given recent events.

As Prime Minister Harper noted last month in an interview with Macleans, his view on foreign policy is that "our long-run interests are tied somewhat to our trade, but they're more fundamentally tied to the kind of values we have in the world: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law." This sounds nice and the Harper government has not failed to remind everyone about our principles, but what happens when our like-minded friends are no longer wise to become too invested with economically? After all, Canada needs trading partners to keep the economy running smoothly. So, whom should Canada strive to build strong economic ties with? The easy answer is everyone and that we should never turn away a potential partner. The reality is, however, that with out limited resources it is in our best interests to cultivate strong, strategic relationships rather than try to spread them out too thin.

In the past, discussion on whom Canada should trade with has focused on two major partners, the United States and Europe. But right now, both are in serious economic trouble as they struggle with issues of debt, unemployment and internal political deadlocks. Add to that the standoff between Canada and the EU over the hunting of seals and the sale of seal products and it looks like the traditional partners may not be the best trading partners in the near future.

What about China? Right from the start, Tory governments were heavily critical of China and its human rights record. Whether or not this was the right thing to do is not for me to say, but it did have a cooling effect on any relationship between Canada and the world's fastest growing economy. Now we see the government scrambling to rebuild ties with China in hopes of not becoming collateral damage of the economic repercussions of the US debt woes (Check out the Canadian International Council's new site OpenCanada.org and their recent Rapid Response roundtable about why the government is softening its stance on China). It is more than likely that it will take a few years of sustained effort to repair the previous damage done to the relationship.

Mr. Harper has just wrapped up a trade tour in Latin American in hopes of building up positive trade relations with the region, especially with Brazil. Attempts have been made to trumpet the benefits of the free trade deals recently signed with Honduras and Colombia but the reality is that these markets won't have a huge positive effect on the Canadian economy. The real prize would be to develop a strong economic relationship with rising star in the international arena, Brazil. But once again, our ties with this new power are not exactly the best they could be, thanks in part to neglect and fierce competition in the airline industry.

The Harper government will have to figure out where its priorities lie and work to (re)build the kinds of relationships that will help strengthen our economy and move past our recent economic problems. The question remains, what will the government do if economic gain comes at the expense of dealing with countries who don't share our values? If recent events give any indication, I predict the economy will come out on top (no surprise there!), but only time will tell.


Cross-posted at DMF Insider

Post-Conflict Potter: The Forgotten Aspect

Alright, I'm a couple days late to jump on the Post-Conflict Potter bandwagon but having read some of the better responses to the original article (see responses from The Duck of Minerva , The Monkey Cage and Running Chicken) I've noticed that one factor seems to have been forgotten in all this "analysis" - I'm trying not to think too hard about this, I swear, but I am easily drawn in to these kinds of thought exercises - namely the importance of, to steal from the R2P doctrine, the responsibility to rebuild after the conflict.

All of the responses so far have focused on the need to rebuild following Harry's defeat of Voldemort at the end of the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But everyone seems to have forgotten that the only reason Voldemort was even able to come back to "life" after he failed to kill Harry was that the Death Eaters were never successfully re-integrated into the British wizarding community the first time around. Just look how quickly they were willing to go back to their old ways of terrorizing mixed bloods, muggle-borns and those that held different views than them.

The authors of the original article (Malinowski, Holewinski & Schultz) recognize the importance of transitional justice the second time around, prescribing that,

Surviving Death Eaters will have to be brought to justice or reintegrated into magical society. Long-standing rifts among magical communities that the war widened must be healed. Most of all, we must ensure that the values that triumphed in the final battle -- tolerance, pluralism, and respect for the dignity of all magical and non-magical creatures alike -- are reflected in the institutions and arrangements that emerge from the conflict. What ultimately matters is not just whether something evil was defeated, but whether something good is built in its place.

This time around they have the ability to learn lessons from the past and incorporate them into the rebuilding efforts, but not the lessons from the American muggles in Afghanistan or Iraq, as the authors suggest, rather their own mistakes with the same group of Death Eaters 17 years earlier. They have seen from the events of the last two years, books... and/or corresponding movies, I guess, (Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows) what happens when former combatants are not successfully re-integrated and the human cost incurred. If you are going to rebuild after a conflict, make sure that you are willing to make the commitment that reconstruction requires because doing a poor job will only just postpone the eventual return of violence (*cough**cough**Somalia**cough**cough*).