Do Canada and the United States share a special relationship, or is this just a face-saving myth, masking dependency and domination? The Politics of Linkage cuts through the rhetoric that clouds this debate by offering detailed accounts of four major bilateral disputes. It shows that the United States has not made coercive linkages between issues. In the early Cold War years, the exercise of American power over Canada was held in check by a genuinely special diplomatic culture but since then has been held back only by interest groups and institutions. This revisionist account of Canada-US relations is essential reading for anyone interested in Canadian politics, American foreign policy, or international diplomacy.

Brian Bow's profile page

• Winner, 2009/2010 Donner Prize for best book on Canadian public policy, The Donner Foundation

Brian Bow is an associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University and co-editor of An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada? Challenges and Choices for the Future.

Bow makes [it] clear, the conditions that made that golden age possible are gone for good.

Canadian Public Policy, Vol XXXVII, No. 1

The judges in the 2010 Donner Prize competition for the best book on Canadian public policy made no mistake to choose Brian Bow’s Politics of Linkage. Bow has crafted a splendid exploration of the past six decades of the United States-Canada relationship that must be ranked among the most profound on the subject.

H-Diplo Roundtable Review, Vol XII, No 17, 2011