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Russia, NATO and cooperative security: Bridging the gap, by Lionel Ponsard

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
DOI10.1177/0020702013505738
Date01 December 2013
Published date01 December 2013
AuthorSimeon Mitropolitski
Subject MatterBook Reviews
untitled Book Reviews
653
A chapter on the Canadian Armed Forces’ past, present, and future roles on the
continent, from peace operations and humanitarian airlifts to military training and
piracy patrols, would have f‌leshed out an underappreciated aspect of Canada’s
policy tool kit. Deeper investigation of the Mali crisis, given Canada’s pre-eminent
donor position prior to the March 2012 coup and subsequent vanishing act, would
present an excellent case study of aid ef‌fectiveness and donor responsibility. And
lastly, there is not much ref‌lection about what the study of Canadian relations in
Africa can contribute to wider international relations or Canadian foreign policy
theoretical debates.
This edition of Canada Among Nations rightly rejects the notion that Canada
currently has (and only ever had) ‘‘humanitarian interests’’ in Africa. Ultimately,
this collection will stand or fall on whether it makes a convincing case that Africa
matters to Canada in the 21st century. It has not only accomplished that task but
has also provided convincing evidence of the entrenched obstacles that prevent
many Canadians from ‘‘seeing’’ interests, change, and opportunity in Africa and
has of‌fered various practical, if at times contentious or self-serving, policy prescrip-
tions. As Gerald Helleiner argues in the summary chapter, ‘‘the aid-based and
implicitly patronizing relationships of the past cannot remain dominant’’ (295).
Readers will no doubt agree.
Lionel Ponsard
Russia, NATO and cooperative security: Bridging the gap
London and New York: Routledge, 2007. 224pp., $140.00 (cloth) ISBN 978-0415407236
Reviewed by: Simeon Mitropolitski, Universite´ de Montre´al, University of Ottawa
In his book Russia, NATO and Cooperative Security, Lionel Ponsard explores the
potential for common ground between Russia and NATO. He argues that these
supposedly antagonistic political entities have the potential to be a model of
cooperative security (i). By emphasizing identity as a key contextual variable, his
approach presents...

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