For the last eighty years, Canadians have benefited hugely from the American-led and Western-dominated global order that emerged from the Second World War. But since 2001 that order has been increasingly challenged by the assertive rise of the People’s Republic of China under paramount leader Xi Jinping, and the revanchism of the Russian Federation under President Vladimir Putin. As we enter this new era of great-power competition, Canadians tend to assume that the United States will continue to provide global leadership for the West.
But for the last decade, the American-led order has faced another challenge — paradoxically, this challenge comes from within. From 2017 to 2021, President Donald J. Trump engaged in a wrecking operation, seeking to pull apart the very world order that the United States had created and maintained for so long. While Canadians — and many others around the world — breathed a sigh of relief when Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, the challenge of Trumpism has not receded. Today, Trump is leading the field for nomination as the Republican candidate for president in 2024; and despite the many legal challenges he faces, he continues to have a feasible and plausible path to the presidency.
Canada Alone sketches the more dystopian future that is likely to result if the illiberal, anti-democratic, and authoritarian Make America Great Again movement regains power in 2025. Under the twin stresses of a reinvigorated America First policy and the purposeful abandonment of American global leadership, it is likely that the West, such a critical component of the American-led order, will likely fracture as Europeans and the members of the West in the western Pacific are abandoned by an isolationist and protectionist America. This will leave Canadians all alone with a United States that increasingly disunited and dysfunctional. Canada Alone outlines what Canadians will need to navigate this deeply unfamiliar post-American world.
Softcover, PDF, or ePub available from Dundurn Press
Softcover available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your local independent bookstore
Kindle edition available from Amazon.ca; Kobo edition available from indigo.ca
Audiobook available from Tantor
Please email me at nossalk@queensu.ca if you would like a personalized signed bookplate or if you would like me to speak to your group or organization about this book.
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Reviews of Canada Alone
Așa McKercher, International Journal (OnlineFirst, 2024); also at https://doi.org/10.1177/00207020241276092.
Adam Chapnick, “It’s not getting easier,” Dorchester Review 14, no. 1 (Spring 2024): 40–43.
Srdjan Vucetic, “Lax Americana: What happens if Donald Trump returns to the White House?,” Literary Review of Canada, January-February 2024.
Colin Robertson, “‘Canada Alone’: A stark warning about a very different future,” Policy Magazine, 8 May 2024.
Denise Ryan, Quill and Quire, 11 October 2023: joint review of Canada Alone and Rob Goodman’s Not Here: Why American Democracy Is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself.
Mark Pierce, “Imagining Trump’s second term,” The Interpreter, 13 October 2023: joint review of Canada Alone and Bruce Wolpe’s Trump’s Australia: How Trumpism Changed Australia and the Shocking Consequences For Us of a Second Term.
Advance Praise for Canada Alone
“With this provocative and important book, Kim Nossal has begun an essential debate.”
JOHN ENGLISH, co-chair, Canadian International Council
“Nossal’s thoughtful book is a wake-up call for Canadians, who must prepare to confront an illiberal and inward-looking neighbour.”
KENNETH HOLLAND, former president, Association for Canadian Studies in the United States
“Nossal delivers a dystopian vision of a world and compiles the best of mainstream media and academic analysis and throws in surprisingly colourful adjectives about the Trump presidency.”
KERRY BUCK, former Canadian ambassador to NATO
“A concise, compelling, and very concerning analysis of the challenges that Canada — and the West as a whole — face from the ongoing Trumpian crisis in the United States.”
HUGH WHITE, emeritus professor of strategic studies, Australian National University
Kim Richard Nossal 