The Best Laid Plans: Canada's Proposal for a United Nations Rapid Reaction Capability
| Date | 01 March 1997 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209705200106 |
| Published date | 01 March 1997 |
| Author | James Fergusson,Barbara Levesque |
| Subject Matter | Comment & Opinion |
JAMES
FERGUSSON
&
BARBARA
LEVESQUE
The
best
laid
plans:
Canada's
proposal
for
a
United
Nations
rapid
reaction
capability
Since
the
end
of
the
Cold
War,
substantive
reform
of the
United
Nations
has
emerged
as
a
major
issue
on
the
political
agenda,
and
one
of
the
most
innovative
proposals
is
Canadian.
This
proposal,
submitted
to
the
General
Assembly
in
September
1995, calls
for
a
United
Nations
rapid
reaction
force
or
capability
that
will
enable
the
United
Nations
to
respond
more
quickly
and
effectively to
crises
and
conflicts.
Ostensibly,
the
belief
which
underlies
this
proposal
is
that
the
post-Cold
War
international
environment
facilitates
co-operative
action
in
international
security,
provides
an
opportunity
to
reinforce
international
norms
supporting
peacekeeping,
and
creates
greater
political
demands
for
the
inter-
national
management
of
violent
conflict.
The
only
dominant
obstacles
to
the
attainment of
this
benign
vision,
according
to
the
Canadian proposal,
are
economic and
fiscal.
However,
there
are
much
deeper
obstacles,
masked
by
a
Charter
discourse
that
reflects
a
multilateralist
and
collectivist
ideology,
that
have
to
do
with
sovereign
rights
and
national
interests.
Although the
Canadian
proposal
is
designed
to
be
both
prag-
matic
and
realistic
in
the
short
term,
its
long-term
goal
is
to
create
a
United
Nations
standing
emergency force
largely
independent
of
national
authority.
This
outcome
will
result
over
time
from
the
implementation
of
the incremental structural
reforms
necessary
JAMES
FERGUSSON
is
Deputy
Director
and
BARBARA
LEVESQUE
is
a
Research
Assistant,
Centre
for
Defence
and
Security
Studies,
Department
of
Political
Studies,
University
of Manitoba.
International
Journal
LII
WINTER
1996-7
CANADA'S
UN
RAPID
REACTION
PROPOSAL
1
19
to
create
a
functional
short-term
rapid reaction
capability.
However,
the proposal's
very
pragmatism
and
realism
ensure that
instead
of
increasing the
ability
of
the
collective to
respond
inde-
pendent
of
national
concerns, the
implementation
of
reform
as
proposed
by
Canada
will
reinforce
the national
principle.
In
fail-
ing
to
confront
the
core
issue
of
political
will,
a
United
Nations
rapid
reaction
capability
simply
provides
another
means
for
states,
specifically
the
great
powers,
to
exploit
and
advance
their
national
interest.
If
its
proposal
is
adopted,
Canada's
ability to
make
choices
about
international commitments
will
likely
be
reduced.
Those
commitments
will
be
made
by
others,
namely
the
Security
Council
and
its
five
permanent
members.
Driven
by
long-standing
support
for
internationalism
and
peacekeeping
that
has
become
part
of
its
defining
myth,
Canada
will
have
no choice
but
to
com-
mit
military
resources
to
a
United
Nations
capability
and
respond
positively
to
Security
Council decisions
regarding
its
deployment.
Thus,
Canada
is
likely
to
find
itself increasingly
subservient
to
the
wishes
and
desires
of
others,
primarily
the
great
powers
led
by
the
United
States.
Paradoxically,
a
proposal
designed
to
increase
Canadian
influence
on
ideological
and
functional
grounds
will
have
the
opposite
result.
To
understand
this
paradox,
our
analysis
looks at
the
Canadian proposal
within
the
context
of
the
differing
views
of
the
secretary-general
and
the
Security
Council on
the
ability
of
the
United
Nations to
respond
to
threats
to
international
peace
and
security.
Canada's
proposal
supports
the
position
of
the
secretary-
general,
even
though
the
Security
Council
will
remain
the
central
decision-making
body
for
rapid reaction
development
and
deployment.
Subsequently,
an
assessment
of
the
key
requirements
for
an
effective
United
Nations
rapid
reaction
capability
indicates
that
simple
structural developments
are insufficient
to
overcome
national
dictates.
Finally,
the
proposal
is
examined
in
the
context
of
the
defining
myth
of
Canadian internationalism
to
demonstrate
that
Canada
has
'trapped'
itself
in precisely
the
situation
the
pro-
posal
is
designed
to
offset
-
subservience
to
the
great
powers.
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