In 1948, Hans Morgenthau described the United Nations (UN) as “government by superpowers,” and much of the subsequent UN and international organization scholarship has followed suit. Scholars often emphasize the dominance of the great powers (the five permanent members of the Security Council, also known as the P5) and minimize the influence that smaller, non-veto-wielding powers can exercise. Adam Chapnick's Canada on the United Nations Security Council sets out to tell the story of a smaller power's experience on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and finds that this narrative is incomplete: “There are elements of the history of the UN Security Council,” he tells us, “that cannot be fully understood by focussing on the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) / Russia, and China” (4). In other words, smaller and less powerful states can—and do—play an important role as well.

This book complements and builds on Chapnick's prior work on the UN and Canada's middle-power role in world politics. Its primary contribution is to tell the complete story of Canada's experience on the UNSC. To uncover this story, Chapnick draws from a wealth of private records and personal papers; the result is an intimate, though ultimately fair, portrayal of Canada's six two-year terms on the council. Throughout the book, he sheds important light on the relevant international events while providing biographical insight into the motivations and influences of individual statesmen and civil servants. The book proceeds in chronological order, with each of Canada's terms having its own chapter. Some notable election campaigns are given chapters of their own, including the impressive bid for a 1989–1990 seat and the failed attempt in 2010. In addition, the fourth chapter discusses the UN reforms of the 1960s and their implications for Canada's role on the council.

In unearthing this story, Chapnick challenges the tendency to understand the UNSC through the lens of the machinations of the veto-wielding permanent members. The Security Council that emerges from the book is still heavily influenced by the P5 and dependent on their co-operation, but it highlights the influence that smaller powers are sometimes able to exert through shrewd diplomacy. Two such examples from the book are Canada's effective use of its council presidencies and its unique ability to mediate between Western powers and the Non-Aligned Movement, especially during the 1977–1978 term. Even though these and other diplomatic successes did not always resolve the disputes in question, Chapnick suggests that Canada's reputational gains were important nevertheless.

This book has come at a good time, given the rising skepticism about the importance of international institutions and the value of Canada's current UNSC bid. Chapnick gives an even-handed assessment of the costs and benefits of membership, which has the potential to enrich public debate about the institution. An important benefit that states derive from membership is the increased access to the attention of the great powers. A potential risk, however, is that UNSC members cannot hide when controversial matters are up for debate and must risk alienating or upsetting allies in the pursuit of the national interest. This risk is worth taking seriously amid today's global uncertainty. The book closes with a sombre warning against further politicizing Canada's UN aspirations. The promise of membership on the UNSC, Chapnick writes, is that it gives states a unique opportunity to pursue their national interest on a large stage; identification of membership with partisan interests, however—for which both major political parties share blame—may weaken Canada's ability to maximize the benefit of future UNSC seats.

Though the book's presentation of Canada's experiences on the council is strong, some readers may feel that some of the theoretical implications alluded to in the first chapter remain underdeveloped. For example, the historical depth of the book puts the author in a good position to offer insight on contemporary questions and theoretical debates, including proposals for altering the selection of member states or increasing the number of veto-holding members; the insights about the ways in which Canada has exerted influence in the UNSC would seem to bring new and relevant information to these debates, but they are dealt with in a rather cursory manner over the space of a few pages in the conclusion. Future work that draws out the implications of Canada's UNSC experience for these and other questions would be most welcome.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Canadian foreign policy and global engagement and will be a useful resource in graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses on these topics. Because the book complicates the view of the UN as dominated by the great powers, it may also be useful to scholars outside of the Canadian context, particularly to specialists of foreign policy in other middle or emerging powers, such as Brazil or India, that may have similar experiences on the UNSC.