In its examination of bilateral Canada-European Community (EC) relations since 1957, this dissertation tests two hypotheses: that the Canadian foreign policy process is predominantly state-led; and that given Canada's relative power capability in the immediate post-Cold War period (1989-1993), it faced considerable constraints in not only its broader foreign policy choices but specifically with regard to the EC "pillar" of its European foreign policy framework. This study's overview of the history of bilateral Canada-EC relations, its analysis of the Canadian government's interests in the negotiations leading to the 1990 EC-Canada Transatlantic Declaration and the Canadian response to the Single European Market, highlight a watershed - starting in 1989 and lasting four years - in Canada's post-Second W orld War intemational relations. It was during this period that Ottawa was forced to make a fundamental reassessment not only of the value of its traditional Atlanticist foreign policy orientation but also the relative value of the three "pillars" (NATO, CSCE, and the EC) that upheld this approach. The dissertation concludes by outlining the choices available to Canadian decision makers at the end of 1993, as they sought to use Canada's bilateral relationship with the Community to reconfigure transatlantic economic, political and security relations
