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Partners in the World?

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 September 2008
DOI10.1177/002070200806300308
AuthorPetra Dolata-Kreutzkamp,Veronica Kitchen
Published date01 September 2008
Subject MatterCanada-Germany RelationEssays in Honour of Robert Spencer
Petra Dolata-Kreutzkamp &
Veronica Kitchen
Partners in the
world?
Canada, Germany, and Afghanistan
| International Journal | Spring 2008 | 567 |
Currently, NATO’s mission in Afghanistan is at the top of the transatlantic
security agenda. In Canada, dissatisfaction with the level of support Canadian
troops have been getting from their NATO allies has concentrated on Ger-
many even more than other European countries. The search for common, or
at least complementary, policy ground on a global issue (rebuilding
Afghanistan)—of the type that has characterized transatlantic relations in
the past decade—has evolved into a transatlantic question: what do NATO al-
lies owe each other in complex peacemaking missions?
A question about policy towards a third country, therefore, returns us to
the decades-old question of the future of the Atlantic alliance. Markus Kaim’s
article shows how foreign policy made in both Canada and Germany may
influence or constrain the policy options available in the other country—but
also the direction of the Afghanistan mission, and ultimately the ability of
NATO to participate in other such missions.
Alexander Moens and Ben Lombardi remind us that foreign policy is as
much about domestic politics as it is about finding the appropriate solution
to a particular global problem. Lombardi shows that the German caveat on
sending troops to the south has as much to do with the constraints imposed
by a coalition government and a party system fragmenting at the margins as

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