Middle Power Diplomacy: Canada and South Korea

Andrew F. Cooper, a professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, has published a working paper with the East Asia Institute’s Middle Power Diplomacy Initiative. His report, Recalibrating Middle Power Diplomacy: The Changing "Soft Power" Brands of Republic of Korea and Canada in Comparative Perspective, appeared online February 2015. In his report, Cooper unpacks the changing role of South Korea and Canada on the global stage, and compares their soft power resources, national priorities and participation within the G20, the so-called “hub of global economic governance.” Cooper concludes that for middle powers to thrive in the 21st century, they must both adapt their repertoire of public diplomacy resources and make themselves “look and feel relevant” in today’s increasingly heteropolar world. 

The full report is available here.