Opportunism and Goodwill: Canadian Business Expansion in Colombia, 1867–1979

“This book provides one more piece in the understanding of this important but still neglected topic.” Rosana Barbosa, Saint Mary’s University, American Historical Review

"This meticulously researched and thorough historical account of the relationship between Canada and Colombia offers much-needed insight into the tangled and mutually beneficial development pathways of Canadian and Colombian capital. Stefano Tijerina’s nuanced perspective of Canada’s promotional state demonstrates the ways the state has helped the Canadian private sector secure markets and access to Colombia’s natural resources under the image of a benevolent and anti-imperialist nation. The book’s empirically rich analysis also exposes the agency of the Colombian elites in this process as well as Canada’s relatively subordinate position within the world capitalist economy, which prevented channeling the profits towards Canada’s national economic development."

Jasmin Hristov, assistant professor of sociology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan

"Stefano Tijerina's Opportunism and Goodwill offers an in-depth look at the historical development of Canada-Colombia foreign relations and the central role business interests played in this process."

Todd Gordon, assistant professor of law and society, Wilfrid Laurier University

"Stefano Tijerina’s crucial contribution offers a fascinating and nuanced account of Canadian and Colombian state-capital pacts under conditions of British-US rivalry in the Americas and the Caribbean. At the intersection of business history and critiques of imperialism, this book is essential reading for all concerned with the extractivist and imperialist record of Canada, Britain, and the United States – and the manoeuvres of the global banking and oil industries – in contemporary South America."

Anna Zalik, associate professor of environmental and urban change, York University