How unipolarity impacts Canada's engagement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Abstract

This article argues that the advent of a unipolar world following the end of the Cold War changed Canada's relation to and participation in NATO. It demonstrates how Canada's engagement in NATO combat operations since 1992 has been motivated primarily by a need to please the United States. It explores Canada's role through NATO in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa, and Libya. The desire to be a strong ally to the United States is the major driver of Canada's shift from the role of peace keeper to peace supporter. It explores the reasons why Canada did not join the US-led coalition to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, a decision that is an anomaly in post-Cold War Canadian foreign policy.

Keywords:

• NATO
• post-Cold War
• unipolarity
• defense
• security

Notes

The current NATO members are Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and United States.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kenneth M. Holland

Dr Kenneth M. Holland is the Dean of the Rinker Center for International Programs and Professor of Political Science at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He is the author of Canadian–United States engagement in Afghanistan: An analysis of the ‘whole of government’ approach (Ottawa, ON: Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, 2009) and co-editor of a special issue of the American Review of Canadian Studies, Canada's Commitment to Afghanistan (Vol. 40, No. 2, June 2010). Other articles have appeared in journals such as Australian Journal of Political Science, Québec Studies and Canadian Journal of Law and Society. He is the past President of the Midwest Association for Canadian Studies and is the Vice President and President-Elect of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States.