The Canadian International Development Agency: New Policies, Old Problems

ABSTRACT The Canadian International Development Agency is confronted by an extraordinary range of cross-pressures that have prevented it from sustaining a coherent mission, stable policy priorities, and long-discussed administrative reforms. These cross-pressures are in the first place normative—between more cosmopolitan and more sovereignty-affirming orientations. They are then traced through three levels of analysis: transnational, governmental, and state-societal. Particular attention is given to the pivotal theme of “partnership,” which illuminates normative and institutional cross-pressures at both state-societal and transnational levels. Neither the 2005 International Policy Statement nor the subsequent election of a Conservative minority government has given any clear indication that these cross-pressures can be effectively accommodated.