ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes an alternative perspective, non-imperial Internationalism, to understand Canadian foreign policy in Africa. The non-imperial internationalist approach draws insights from the theoretical assumptions of constructivists' approach to international relations. The chapter argues that Canadian government policy towards the African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) can be understood in terms of moral identity/image that Canada has constructed over the years in Africa. It highlights the weaknesses of neo-Gramscian approaches and their inability to help to understand the Canadian government's policy towards the AU and ECOWAS. The mainstream theoretical approaches to Canadian foreign policy are concerned with analysing Canada's status, role, and foreign policy behaviour in global arena as a middle power or principal power. The analyses of the middle power and principal power approaches of Canada's status, policy preferences, behaviour, and national interests on the global stage are rooted in domestic sources of policy-making. These are the liberal pluralist, statist, and dominant class approaches.
