Reinventing NATO
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200305800203 |
| Author | Anna Locher,Christian Nuenlist |
| Published date | 01 June 2003 |
| Date | 01 June 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ANNA
LOCHER
&
CHRISTIAN
NUENLIST
Reinventing
NATO
Canada
and
the
multilateralization
of
detente,
1962-1966
INTRODUCTION
W
ith
the
evolution
of
d~tente
after
the
Cuban
missile
crisis
in
1962,
the
cold
war
consensus
within
the
North
Atlantic
Treaty
Organization
(NATO)
was
endangered.
In
times
of
diminishing
fear,
some
members,
particularly
Charles
de
Gaulle,
the
president
of
France,
increasingly
questioned
both
the
future
of
NATO
and
American
leadership
in
it.
For
Paul
Martin,
Canada's
secretary
of
state
for external
affairs
at
the time, Canada
had
'a
vital stake
in
the
welfare
of
the
Alliance.'
He concluded
that
the
Atlantic
alliance
provided
'a
framework
in
which
Canada
is
able
to
play
a
useful
independent
role
as
a
responsible
middle
power."
For
a
'responsible
middle
power,'
the
challenge
in
the
196
0s
was
double-edged
-
how
to
pursue
detente
without
jeopardizing
alliance
cohesion.
We argue
that
Canada,
together
with
several
'small
allies,'
was
in
the
vanguard
in
advancing
within
NATO
the
understanding
that
a
multilat-
eral
East-West
d&ente
was
not
only
necessary
but
also
that
it
would
The
authors
are
researchers
at
the Center
for
Security
Studies,
Swiss
Federal
Institute
of
Technologo
Zurich.
They
would
like
to
thank
Andreas
Wenger
and
S.
ViYctor
Papacosma
for
their
helpful
comments on
earlier
drafts
and
Greg
Donaghy
and
Ted
Kelly
of
Canadas
Department
ofForeign
Affairs
and
International
Tradefor
their
generous
assistance
during
their
research
stay
in
Ottawa.
They owe
special
gratitude
to
Beth
Fischer
for
encouraging
them
to
suh-
mit
this
article.
i
Martin
speech,
attached to
memorandum, 28
January
1965,
Canadian
National
Archives
(CNA),
Ottawa,
RG
25,
27-4-NATO-1.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL Spring
2003
Anna Locher
&
Christian Nuenlist
benefit
the
Western
powers.
In
NATO's
search
for
new legitimacy in
an
age
of
ddtente,
Ottawa
campaigned
for
transforming
NATO
from
a
purely
military
defence
organization
into
an
instrument
for
peace.
In
general,
the
literature
on
Canada
and
NATO
pays
relatively
little
attention
to
the
years
in
which
Lester
B.
Pearson
was
prime minister
(1963-8)
.2
However,
we
show
that
those
years
not
only
provide
valu-
able
insights
into
Canadian
foreign policy in
a
period
of
transition,
but
offer
an
attractive
topic
from
an
alliance
perspective.
Patterned
habits
of
Canadian
foreign
policy
-
such
as
its
proverbial
internation-
alism
-
did
prevail
but
did
not
preclude
attempts
at
alliance
reform
and
change.
Rather,
we
argue,
Canada combined
alliance
policies
with
the
promotion
of
ddtente in
an
imaginative
way
that
in
the
event
proved
viable
when
NATO
ministers
agreed
on the
landmark Harmel
report
in
1967.
As
a
middle
power,
Canada
in
the
1960s
chose
to
work the
NATO
connection
-
the
multilateral
angle
-
to
advance
the
core
concerns
of
its
foreign
policy.
3
Canada
had
been
present
at
the
creation
of
the
alliance;
it
now
pressed
for
the
transformation
of
the
alliance
in
times
of
d&tente.
NATO
AND
THE
'LITTLE'
DETENTE,
1963
The
outcome
of
the
Cuban
missile
crisis
marked
an
important
water-
shed
in
the
cold
war.
Stepping
back
from the
brink,
the
president
of
the
United
States,
John
E
Kennedy,
and
the
Soviet
leader,
Nikita S.
Khrushchev,
seemed ready
to
discuss
major
East-West
problems,
par-
ticularly
disarmament
questions.' At
the
NATO
ministerial
meeting
in
Paris
in
December
1962, however,
the
United
States
secretary
of
state,
Dean
Rusk,
noted
a
'certain
division
of
opinion
about
the
desirabili-
ty
of
broad
East-West
negotiations'
among
NATO
governments.
5
On
2
Important
exceptions
are
Greg
Donaghy,
'Domesticating
NATO:
Canada and
the
North
Atlantic
Alliance,
1963-68,'
International Journal
52(summer
1997),
445-63;
and
John
English, 'Problems
in
middle
life,'
in
Margaret
0.
MacMillan,
etal,
eds,
Canada
and
NATO:
Uneasy
Post,
Uncertain
Future
(Waterloo:
Waterloo University
Press
1990),
47-66.
3
J.L.
Granatstein,
'A
small country
in
the
cold
war:
Canada
between
the
us
and
the
USSR,'
in
Gustav
Schmidt,
ed,
Ost-West-Beziehungen:
Konfrontation und
Ddtente,
1945-1989 (Bochum:
Brockmeyer
1993),
237-55.
4
Foreign
Relations
of
the
UnitedStates
(FRuS)
2961-63;
Vi,
178-182
(Washington
DC:
Government
Printing
Office
1996).
5
Rusk
to
us
Embassies,
2o
December
1962,
FRUS
1961-63;
XIII
(Washington
DC:
Government
Printing
Office
1994),
463.
284
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