Paying it forward: Canada's renewed commitment to NATO's enhanced Forward Presence
| Author | Christian Leuprecht,Joel Sokolsky,Jayson Derow |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020702019834887 |
| Subject Matter | Policy Brief |
Policy Brief
Paying it forward:
Canada’s renewed
commitment to NATO’s
enhanced Forward
Presence
Christian Leuprecht
Department of Political Science, Royal Military College of Canada,
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Joel Sokolsky
Department of Politics and Economics, Royal Military College of
Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Jayson Derow
NATO Association of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
Although the dissolution of the Soviet Union may have altered the founding Cold War
rationale for NATO, the fundamental principle of the transatlantic alliance has prevailed
for 70 years: the collective defence of shared interests. In the face of Russian aggression,
and uncertainty about US continued commitment to the alliance, reinforcing NATO has
emerged as Canada’s top expeditionary defence priority. Indeed, just before the NATO
summit in July 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau renewed Canada’s commitment to
the enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) as the Framework Nation for Latvia for four
years, and scaled up Canada’s contribution to the allied battlegroup. This decision is as
much a reflection of the eFP’s immediate collective defence requirements in Latvia as it
is of the extent to which the existential fate of Canada’s most important defence asset
hangs in the balance: the alliance, Canada’s role in it, and the future of Canadian defence
policy.
Keywords
Foreign affairs, defence policy, US, NATO, Latvia, Baltics, Russia, eFP
International Journal
2019, Vol. 74(1) 162–171
!The Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0020702019834887
journals.sagepub.com/home/ijx
Corresponding author:
Christian Leuprecht, Department of Political Science, Royal Military College of Canada, PO Box 17000,
Station Forces, Kingston, Ontario, K7K 7B4, Canada.
Email: christian.leuprecht@rmc.ca
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