Fire and the Full Moon: Canada and Indonesia in a Decolonizing World

The history of Canada’s postwar foreign policy is dominated by Cold War narratives – the Gouzenko Affair, UN peacekeeping missions, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. By contrast, the story of Canada’s response to decolonization in the Global South is less well known.

Fire and the Full Moon explores Canadian-Indonesian relations to determine whether Canada’s postwar foreign policy was guided by an overarching set of principles. Canada, a loyal member of the Western alliance, wanted developing countries to follow a non-revolutionary model of decolonization and paid little attention to violations of human rights. Webster’s reassessment of Canada’s foreign-policy objectives in Indonesia, and of its own national image, will appeal to students of diplomatic history interested in Asia and the developing world.