A timely and thought provoking blog post from Prof. Andy Knight of the University of Alberta from a platform I had not been aware of before…The McLeod Group.
by Prof. Andy Knight, University of Alberta
April 15, 2026
Canada’s foreign policy is entering a very uncertain strategic terrain.
For decades, Canadian diplomacy operated within a relatively stable geopolitical architecture: a liberal international order anchored by the United States and reinforced through institutions such as NATO, the United Nations, and the Bretton Woods system. Within that framework, Canada cultivated a reputation as a constructive middle power, supporting multilateral cooperation, peacekeeping, development assistance and rules-based governance.
That world is fading.
The current moment is better understood through Antonio Gramsci’s concept of an interregnum: a period in which the old order is dying while a new one struggles to be born. The United States remains the world’s most powerful state, but its willingness and capacity to sustain the international system it once championed have clearly diminished. At the same time, rival powers such as China and Russia challenge elements of that order, while emerging powers across the Global South question Western dominance within global institutions. As India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted at the 2025 BRICS Summit, two thirds of humanity from the Global South remain underrepresented in twentieth-century global institutions, calling for urgent reforms to the UN Security Council, the World Trade Organization and multilateral development banks.
For Canada, the implications are profound…
Read the rest of the article here.
W. Andy Knight is a Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the University of Alberta. His research focuses on global governance, multilateral diplomacy and the evolving role of middle powers in the international system. Image generated by AI.
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