Dominant Class Theory and Canadian Foreign Policy: The Case of the Counter-Consensus

Abstract

Paul Pross, a leading student of Canadian pressure groups, has written that 'the real problem in the study of Canadian pressure groups lies not in the paucity of the literature, but in the poverty of its analytical approach.'1 Others, perhaps seeking to make the same point, have spoken of the need to develop an appropriate theoretical framework for the study of the relationship between society and the state. This is argued from both the left and the right.2 Their point is surely correct. Almost all social scientists, whether knowingly or not, work within established theoretical approaches which set their basic assumptions and indicate what are the important questions and the key relationships to study. Often this choice of an approach is implicit and unexamined, determined by inclination, interest, ideology, and temperament. It is better that this choice be the product of reflection and openly articulated.