It was just yesterday that I paid attention to “middle power.” That’s what Mark Carney says we are in Canada. Wikipedia tells me that it is a state that is not a superpower or a great power, but still exerts influence and plays a significant role in international relations.
We’ve regularly heard about superpowers - the U.S., Russia and China. Now I see that the U.S. has been assigned the distinction of hyperpower,. It is also still listed as a superpower in first position. China is 2, Russia is 3, UK is 4 and German 5.
What is a hyperpower? A state that dominates all other states in every key sphere of activity - military, economic, technological and cultural influence. No significant international action can be taken without considering its position.
So what will us middle powers do now that the hyperpower has gone rogue? It looks like we have to do a lot of things, not just a few.
The Carnegie Institute put out an article on January 20th - the same day as Carney’s speech - on what middle powers should do. What caught my attention is that a middle power should have the orientation towards the collective good rather than only operating on self-interests. That’s a difficult position in this time when populations see their politicians as being responsible for making things individually better for them.
We sure hope that Mark Carney can lead the effort needed for Canada. The Carnegie article HERE concludes with a sobering set of concerns, steps forward that are needed, and a faint sense of optimism that the UN Charter will hold.
For now, analysis like this from the Carnegie Endowment is safe - the institution is privately funded so won’t be defunded. That doesn’t exclude being silenced through active investigations and legal actions.
But we can conclude with that famous Carnegie name with its famous Carnegie joke:
Pedestrian: How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Musician; Practice, practice, practice.
And this variation from Demetri Martin: I wish I lived next to Carnegie Hall. Then, if someone asked me how to get to my house, I would say “Practice, practice, practice, and then take a left”
Isn’t this a cute house? It is on Murray Street in Grimsby and seems like a perfect 1930s-1950s house to give us a sense of how great the times gone by were.
