Middle power or muddling power? Canada's relations with emerging markets

Abstract

The introduction to this special issue on Canada and emerging markets introduces some of the key concepts and theoretical perspectives developed in the issue. The rise of emerging markets, especially the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) poses serious challenges to the conduct of Canadian foreign and economic policy. In this special issue, we review Canada's record of relations with these countries (including the 2013 Global Markets Action Plan), and identify some of the main obstacles to improved relations. All of the authors argue that the response to this challenge to date has been inadequate, and that Canada is falling behind in the reshuffling global order. This introductory article describes changes in Canada's global economic position and identifies literature on institutions and cognitive commitments, global bricolage and the relationship between “old” and “new” middle powers which provide some guidance for evaluating the challenges and limitations of Canada's relations with emerging markets.