Reasserting Control

Abstract

The cases explored in this chapter bring together the elements developed in the two previous chapters: interests—in this case the definition and redefinition of the national interest—and the distinction between external permissive causes and endogenous policy development. Golob and Joana present cases that lie squarely at the intersection of public policy and international relations—“high” and “low” politics, as it were. External trade policy in Canada, like the question of military conscription in France, had obvious electoral implications. Both were also inextricably linked to self-perceived questions of national security and even national identity for the two countries in question. Trade and military manpower policies, however, are also the realm of technical experts and it is with the interaction between these and their elected “principals” that both studies are chiefly concerned.