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Description of  Swingback: Getting Along in the World with Harper and Trudeau

From 2006 to 2015, Stephen Harper charted a new course for Canadas foreign policy, turning away from multilateralism and refusing to go along to get along on the world stage. Justin Trudeau, in only his first few months in power, used his personal celebrity to rebrand Canada as a more sympathetic country in an attempt to swing the pendulum back to something more familiar. However, navigating Canadas path forward in the world will take more than sunny ways. Chronicling Canadas journey under these two prime ministers of the early twenty-first century, Swingback examines the ways the countrys relationships with the United Nations, Israel, Iran, and Russia changed under Harpers leadership, and how this has affected the situation the Liberals have inherited. From the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya to meetings with world leaders, Mike Blanchfield traces Canadas birth as a global actor since the end of the Second World War and delves into the trenches of domestic political battles and the challenges of the present day, drawing from extensive on-the-ground research as a practising journalist. An uncompromising analysis of Harpers foreign policy legacy and the emerging priorities of the Liberal government, Swingback repositions Canada in this turbulent world. Read more