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PM Carney Takes Global Spotlight With Candid Autopsy of the “Rules-Based” International Order
Prime Minister Mark Carney made international news last week with a provocative speech in which he laid out a path forward for mid-sized countries in an uncertain and hostile geopolitical climate. Speaking to assembled world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Prime Minister offered a stark diagnosis of a global order increasingly comprised of isolated “fortresses” and ruled by hegemons that no longer make any pretense of complying with a rules-based order. Leaders must adapt, Carney said, to a world where the great powers deploy overt economic coercion in pursuit of their interests.
While the Prime Minister did not name any specific countries or individuals, he was unusually blunt in condemning the naked power-politics that have lately come to define international relations. Carney declared that global economic integration has become a tool used by the great powers to coerce smaller countries. He called out tariffs twice, specifically denouncing their deployment on the Greenland question.
Unexpectedly, Carney also refused to eulogize the former “rules-based order”. He admitted that the previous system was in part a “pleasant fiction” that never applied equally to great powers like the United States. Countries like Canada nevertheless went along with this pretense to enjoy the benefits associated with the predictability of American hegemony.
That fiction is no longer tenable in a renewed “era of great power rivalry”. Carney urged countries to stop “invoking the ‘rules-based international order'” which has clearly become moribund, if it ever existed. Smaller countries cannot pretend they are on equal footing with great powers, which wield a vastly superior arsenal of tools of coercion and seek to pit lesser countries against each other in a competition for favor. Bilateral negotiation with a hegemon, said Carney, is “the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination”.
Instead, Carney called for issue-based coalition building among likeminded countries. He also pushed increased economic diversification, acknowledging that such agreements must be “value-based” but also pragmatic. Only in this way can such countries hope to gain leverage in negotiations with vastly more powerful hegemons. Middle powers must take an active role in creating stronger and more inclusive international systems, rather than relying on diminished legacy institutions: “The middle powers must act together, because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”
Carney’s remarks quickly became an international sensation and have become the defining moment of the forum. The Prime Minister received a standing ovation at Davos, and his comments quickly spread through international media, to both approval and controversy. Multiple world leaders praised Carney’s speech; California governor Gavin Newsom lauded Carney for his “courage of convictions”.
However, the speech also earned a strong rebuke from the US government. President Trump denounced Canada’s ingratitude to the US, telling reporters that “Canada lives because of the United States“. In addition, Trump withdrew Canada’s invitation to join his nascent global “Board of Peace”, and threatened “Governor Carney” with 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if it made a separate trade deal with China.
And even some who agree with Carney’s analysis of the present moment question whether his proposed remedies are substantive enough, or whether the Prime Minister is committed enough to the radical change that such a fundamental break will require.
Watch the Prime Minister’s address here, or read the full text of his remarks here. |
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