bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1991) — Fall 1991 // Automne 1991, p. 42
The Domestic Battleground: Canada and
the Arab-Israeli Conflict edited by David
Taras and David H. Goldberg, McGill-
Queen’s University Press, 1989, 250 pp.
In The Domestic Battleground, David Taras and David Goldberg set out to awaken “the reader to the high stakes that Canadians have in the Middle East conflict and to the importance of the domestic battleground in influencing the policies Canada will pursue”. The book clearly conveys the contentious and emotionally-charged nature of the debate surrounding the formulation of Canada’s Middle East policies. It focuses on the involvement of various domestic actors (the Jewish community, politicians, the Department of External Affairs, the media, corporations and the United Church). The story is told primarily from the perspective of the Jewish community and seeks to show that the latter is less influential in the policy-making process than is frequently assumed to be the case. The book contains no corresponding in-depth study of the Canadian Arab community, its interests or its lobbying activities. Anticipating criticism for this omission, the editors explain early on that they “were unable to entice any scholar who was in a position to write such an article to do so”
The book consists of three parts. The first examines the interests and lobbying activities of some of the domestic actors, most especially the Jewish community, but also Canadian corporations and the United Church. This section concludes with an assessment of the relative satisfaction (not influence) of four sets of domestic actors with Canada’s policies toward the Middle East in the period of 1973-88. Of the Canadian Jewish Community, the Canadian Arab community, Canadian corporations and the federal bureaucracy — particularly the Department of External Affairs — Jewish groups are found to be the least satisfied, while Arab groups are said to be the most satisfied. The chapter raises several questions. Is there a strong correlation between satisfaction and influence or is satisfaction more closely linked to perceptions of current influence vis-à-vis past influence? Given the subjective nature of these assessments of satisfaction and in light of the diversity among Arab groups, why was only a single representative of one Arab group interviewed, while interviews were conducted with six representatives of various Jewish groups?
Part two, “The Governmental Stage”, examines the performance of several government leaders (in particular Lester Pearson, Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney) and institutions (especially Parliament and the Department of External Affairs). This section presents several interesting findings. For example, politicians are generally more inclined to favour pro-Israeli policies than are public servants in the Department of External Affairs. Furthermore, the media coverage of the Middle East, much of which comes from foreign sources, is seen to exert an unduly strong influence over the views and positions of politicians.
The third and concluding section of the book explores, in interview format, the views of two prominent experts on Canada’s Middle East policy. Both John Sigler and Irving Abella agree that the situation in the Middle East is explosive and that Canada should continue to contribute to the process : of pacific settlement in the region. Their • contrasting opinions on such important
• issues as Canada’s efficacy and, most impor-
• tantly, Canada’s response to the Palestinian
• question, challenge the reader to draw and • to substantiate his or her own conclusions. ; On a theoretical level, the editors argue that Canada’s Middle East policies are best explained by a modified statist approach in which “the state still wields substantial power but that its actions are constrained by parameters set by public opinion and influential interest groups”. While the book argues convincingly for domestic involvement, the linkages between lobbying activities and parameter-setting could be made more explicit. The Domestic Battleground contributes to our understanding of the domestic politics of Canada’s Middle East policy. It is particularly insightful in its discussion of the diversity, interests and activities of the Canadian Jewish Community in the formulation of Canada’s Middle East policies during the post World War II era.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1991) — Fall 1991 // Automne 1991, p. 42. Read the rest of this issue →
