Soviet Strategy: Implications for the Canadian-American Security Relationship
| Published date | 01 March 1991 |
| Author | S. Neil Macfarlane |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209104600104 |
| Date | 01 March 1991 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
S.
NEIL
MAcFARLANE
Soviet
strategy:
implications
for
the
Canadian-American
security
relationship
The
Canadian-American
security
relationship
has
both
a
conti-
nental
and
a
European
dimension.
The
continental
dimension
has
two
aspects:
the
nature of
the
security
relationship
between
the United
States
and
Canada
within
North
America
and the
co-
operation
of
the
United
States
and Canada
in
response
to
jointly
perceived
extracontinental
threats
to
their
safety
and
well-being.
The
first
of
these
is
the
older,
dating
back to
the
Rush-
Bagot
Treaty
of
1817,
which
was
the
first stage
in
the
effective
demilitarization
of
the
bilateral
relationship.
That
problems
remain, despite
the laudable
record
of
the
United
States
and
Canada
in
managing
the
potential
for
conflict
resulting
from
contiguity,
is
evident
in
periodic Canadian
concerns
about
their
country's
capacity
to
sustain
claims
to
sovereignty
over
territorial
waters
and
resource
zones
and
in
calls
for the
enhancement
of
the
capacity
of
the
Canadian Armed
Forces to
deal
with
these
questions.'
The
second
dates
to
the
late
193os,
when
the
growing
Associate
Professor,
Center
for
Russian
and
East
European
Studies, University
of
Virginia, Charlottesville,
Virginia.
My
understanding of
change
in
Soviet
doctrine
and
defence
policy
has
been
substan-
tially
enhanced
by
the
opportunity
to
interview
a
number
of
Soviet
scholars
at
the
Institute
for the
Study
of
the
USA
and
Canada
and
the Institute
for
the
World
Econ-
omy
and International
Relations.
Several
of
these
interviews
occurred
in
the
context
of
the
ACLS/ANSSSR
Exchange
of
Young
Scholars
in
International
Relations
and
Security,
sponsored
by
[REX.
Others occurred
during
a
research
visit
to
Moscow
supported
by
the Donner
Canadian
Foundation.
I
am
grateful
for this
support.
i
The
significance
of the
sovereignty
dimension
of
Canadian
defence
policy
was
underlined
in
the
government's
1987
white
paper
and
is
tied
directly
to
contin-
uing
disagreements
with
the
United
States
on
issues such
as
the
territoriality
of
the
Northwest
Passage.
See
Challenge
and
Commitment:
A
Defence
Policy
for
Canada
(Ottawa:
National
Defence/Supply
and
Services
Canada
1987),
23.
International
Journal
XLVI
winter
1990-1
IMPLICATIONS
OF
CHANGES
IN
SOVIET
STRATEGY
59
sense
of
threat
from
Germany
led
to
the
first
substantial
military
co-operation
agreements
between
the
two
states.
2
Although
the
German
threat
evaporated
in
the
victory
over
and
dismantle-
ment
of
the
Third
Reich,
the
Soviet
Union
rapidly
replaced
Germany
as
a
perceived
threat
to
the
security
of
the
North
American
states.
Whether
or not
the
Soviet
Union
was
ever
in
any
real
sense
a
security
threat
to
North
America
is
a
subject
of
some
doubt, but
most
agreed that:
1
it
was
hostile
to
the
Western
community;
2
it
had
the
power
potential
to
constitute
a
threat
to
the
conti-
nent;
and
3
this
potential
was
transformed
into
actuality,
once
it
devel-
oped
the means
to
deliver
strategic
weapons
onto
the
terri-
tory of
North
America.
This
new
threat
provided
the
rationale
for
such
agreements
as
that
establishing
the
North
American
Air
(later
Aerospace)
Defence
(NORAD)
Command.
The
European
dimension
of
Canada's
defence
policy
has
-
in
the
post-World
War
II
period
-
also
focussed
on
the
Soviet
threat.
The
overwhelming
preponderance
of
the
Soviet
Union
on
the
continent of Europe,
its
threatening
ideology
and
overt
hostility
to
the institutions
of
Western
democracy,
and
its
domi-
nation
of
east-central
Europe
combined
to
create
a
perception
of
a
credible
and
compelling
threat
to
the
security
-
indeed
the
survival
-
of
the
European
democracies.
It
was
deemed
to
be
in
the
Canadian
interest
that
the
Soviet
Union
should
not
achieve
hegemony
in
Europe,
thus
detaching
the
West
European
states
from
their
ties
to
Britain
and
North
America.
In
the conditions
of
postwar
Europe,
these
democracies
were
considered
to
be
particularly
vulnerable
to
political collapse
in
the
face
of
this
threat.
It
was
this
belief
that
justified
Canada's
adherence
to
the
North
Atlantic
Treaty
in
1949.
This,
in
turn,
set
in place
an
enduring
alliance
tie
to
Europe
in
co-operation
with
the
United
States.
3
2
For
example,
the
creation
of
the
Permanent
joint
Board
on
Defence
in
1940.
3
The
continuing
relevance
to
Canadian
security
of
the
commitment
to
NATO
Europe
was
underlined
in
the
white
paper:
Challenge
and
Commitment, 6.
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