This book explores the psychological–cultural dimension of the United States–Canada relationship by analyzing how each country has viewed the other. Drawing on a wide range of data, including primary sources, secondary literature, and survey research, the methodology is historical/analytical, seeking to explicate and understand how Americans and Canadians, and their elites, have viewed one another from the moment they were launched on separate trajectories, why they developed and held such ideas, and what consequences these images had for the bilateral relationship between the countries. American and Canadian images of the other have deep roots and are, in many respects, recognizably the same today as they were many decades ago. Moreover, even when anchored to important realities of the other, such images influence the perception and interpretation of events, and actions taken by the other. How Americans and Canadians have viewed each other, the sources of these ideas, the way they have been influenced by each country’s domestic politics and place within the international system, and the consequences for their bilateral relationship are among the questions examined. Interdisciplinary in approach, the book will appeal to scholars and students of political science, international relations, and history.
Chapter 1 Images of the Other and International Relations
Introduction: Imagining the Other
When and How Do Images of the Other Matter?
Borderlands: Does Physical Contiguity Make a Difference?
National Images and United States-Canada Relations
Chapter 2 America: A Canadian Obsession
Introduction
Early Perceptions: Anti-American Elites and an Unconvinced Public
The Rebellions of 1837-1838: Rejection of the American Model?
Fears of Annexation
Canadian Ambivalence toward America
The “New” Canadian Nationalism
Multiculturalism as a Marker of Difference (and Superiority!)
Old Cultural Tropes Die Hard
American Decline, the Rise of Trumpism, and Canadians’ Image of America
Conclusion
Chapter 3 Canada: From Existential Threat to the Unknown Country
Introduction
The Threat from the North
The Early American Image of les Canadiens and the Canadian People
Canada as a Refuge from Injustice
Reciprocity and Annexation
The Friendly Neighbor Next Door
The Popular Image of Canada: Public Opinion and the Media
Canada in America’s Culture Wars
Conclusion
Chapter 4 A Story of Asymmetry: The Policy Consequences of National Images
Introduction
Economics
Security and Defense
Communications and Culture
The One-Way Mirror
The Modern Era in United States-Canada Relations
Cultural Nationalism in Canada
Economic Nationalism in Canada
United States-Canada Free Trade, 1989
The Decision to Go to War in Iraq, 2003
National Images Matter… within Limits
References
Index
Biography
Stephen Brooks is a professor at the University of Windsor, Canada. His research focuses on Canadian politics, American politics, and American foreign policy. His publications include As Others See Us: The Causes and Consequences of Foreign Perceptions of America (University of Toronto Press, 2006), American Exceptionalism in the Age of Obama (Routledge, 2013), and Anti-Americanism and the Limits of Public Diplomacy: Winning Hearts and Minds (Routledge, 2016).
