Under the Radar: Canada’s Ties to Eastern Europe During the Cold War

Field Notes: Research Profile
Andrea Chandler, Political Science

Andrea Chandler’s research explores Canada’s Cold War relations with Soviet-aligned Eastern European nations, examining how smaller states on both sides of the Iron Curtain navigated global power struggles and Canada’s evolving role in democracy promotion.

Can you offer a “lay” description of your research topic?

My book, Canada and Eastern Europe, 1945-1991: Meeting in the Middle has just been published by Central European University Press, in October 2024. It is essentially a history of Canada’s relations with the Soviet-allied countries of Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania and Bulgaria) during the Cold War. I wanted to provide a view of the Cold War from the perspective of smaller, non-superpower countries from both sides of the Iron Curtain that divided East and West.

What piqued your interest in this topic?

My second and third monographs focussed on contemporary Russia, and I wished to return to the historical themes that were such an important focus of my first book. Quite frankly, I had begun to tire of writing about Russia, as political conditions under Vladimir Putin continued to stagnate. In 2014 Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and the outbreak of conflict in eastern Ukraine, further strengthened my belief that it was essential that Canadians learn more about the East European countries with which we have so much in common. Like Canadians, east Europeans live close to one of the world’s greatest military powers – sometimes too close for comfort.

What question were you hoping to answer in your research?

I had no particular preconceived notions – I wanted to approach the topic with as much of an open mind as possible. I wasn’t sure there would be enough material for a book. I suppose that I began with the question of democracy promotion: determining whether Canada played a role (positive or negative) in the east European countries’ eventual transition to democracy when the Iron Curtain fell in 1989. It was certainly a stated goal of the Canadian government to try to encourage some kind of liberalization in the authoritarian regimes known as the “Soviet satellites,” although this was more of a wishful-thinking narrative about Canada’s role in the world than a reality.

What is something people would be surprised to learn?

In a general sense, I suppose it would be that Canada’s foreign policy was more independent of the United States than people might otherwise assume, and much of the credit for this belongs to the diaspora communities of Canadians of Central and East European heritage. The question of Eastern Europe helped to convince the Canadian government that Canadians deserved to have their voices heard when it came to foreign policy, that international relations should not be determined purely by government ministers and diplomats.

What’s the biggest misconception about your research area?

I think that Canada’s Conservative party has an undeserved reputation as being well-disposed to the countries of Eastern Europe. In the period that I looked at, the Conservatives dropped the ball on this file whenever they were in power. While Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (in power for most of 1968-1984) made some very tactless comments towards Eastern Europe, his Secretaries of State for External Affairs were much more active on human rights in the communist world than their successors under Brian Mulroney, who was Prime Minister when the Soviet bloc collapsed.

Any new projects that you’re excited about?

I recently completed a manuscript for a short book entitled Fomenting Friendship: The Politics and Policy of Interpersonal Warmth, based on a project funded by a Knowledge Synthesis Grant awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in 2022. Fomenting Friendship is currently in press with Routledge, and is expected to be published later in the spring of 2025, as part of the series Routledge Research in Comparative Politics.

What challenges have you encountered in your research, and how have you addressed them?

I was trained as a specialist in Soviet and Russian politics at Columbia University, where I earned my Ph.d. I invested a lot of time into learning the language and doing field work. It was painful to accept that I no longer wanted to spend time researching a country that had descended into such a cruel and stagnant authoritarianism. But I did accept that, and used it as an opportunity to study the German language and brush up on my very basic Ukrainian language abilities. Those skills have been valuable to me in recent years.

What’s a key finding from your research that you think everyone should know?

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, there has been much critique of the concept of “Wandel durch Handel” – the phrase, attributed to the late Chancellor of Germany Willy Brandt, is the idea that through building trade and other forms of cooperation with authoritarian regimes, democracies can gradually induce authoritarian regimes to liberalize. This is a wonderful idea, but there is little evidence to support it, and I think my research on Canada in the Cold War shows that cooperating with authoritarian regimes must be done with eyes wide open to the possible impacts on citizens.

What’s your favourite class to teach?

I would have to say PSCI 3208, the political science course on the politics of Russia and Ukraine. When I first started teaching Russian/post-Soviet politics in the 1990s, I never dreamed there would be a war between these two countries. As sad as this topic is, it opens a door for guiding students to gather evidence as thoroughly and systematically as possible to elucidate the “fog of war.” Furthermore, I feel I have a role to play in modelling ways to discuss politically-charged topics while maintaining a calm and respectful atmosphere.