Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

The Canadian Strategic Debate of the Early 1960s

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
DOI10.1177/002070201206700113
Date01 March 2012
AuthorJoel J. Sokolsky,Matthew P. Trudgen
Published date01 March 2012
Subject MatterBlasts from the Past
| International Journal | Winter 2011-12 | 183 |
Ever since Canada emerged as a distinct and active international actor in the
immediate post-World War II period there has been a certain schizophrenic
character associated with the debates about the country’s inherently proper
role in the world. This has especially been the case in the context of Ottawa’s
relations with Washington, particularly on broad military strategic issues.
Should Canada closely commit itself to collective western defence under
US leadership or should it focus on broad multilateral collective security,
eschewing close military and political alignment with America? Perhaps no
one caught this better than Henry Kissinger when he observed that Canada’s
“instinct in favor of the common defense conf‌licted with the temptation to
stay above the battle as a kind of international arbiter.”1
These two opposing conceptions of what ought to be the Canadian way
came to the fore in the early 1960s, when, after more than a decade of Cold
Matthew P. Trudgen is a post-doctoral fellow at the centre for military and strategic
studies at the University of Calgary. Joel J. Sokolsky is principal and professor of political
science at the Royal Military College of Canada.
1 Henry Kissinger, White House Years (Boston: Little Brown, 1979), 383
Matthew P. Trudgen &
Joel J. Sokolsky
The Canadian
strategic debate of
the early 1960s
BLASTS FROM THE PAST

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT