Abstract
Canada and the United States have always had a complicated relationship regarding the Arctic. Popular and public rhetoric often suggests that the region represents a major source of tension between the two close allies.1 This reflects Canada’s persistent preoccupation with Arctic sovereignty, with the United States cast as a perennial threat since the days of the Alaska Boundary Dispute, as well as the United States’ preoccupation with continental security since World War II. In practice, Canada and the United States have long collaborated in the Arctic through bilateral defense and security agreements, as well as in science and technology, environmental protection, infrastructure development, and surveillance. Canadian hypernationalism and the global scope of US geopolitical interests often obscure this enduring partnership.
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Notes
See F. Griffiths, R. Huebert, and P. W. Lackenbauer (2011) Canada and the Changing Arctic: Sovereignty, Security and Stewardship (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press).
US Navy (2014) The United States Navy Arctic Roadmap for 2014 to 2030 (Washington: Chief of Naval Operations), p. 6.
See J. Jockel (1987) No Boundaries Upstairs: Canada, the United States, and the Origins of North American Air Defense, 1945–1958 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press);
R. Purver (1995) ‘The Arctic in Canadian Security Policy, 1945 to the Present’, in D. Hewitt and D. Leyton-Brown, eds, Canada’s International Security Policy (Scarborough: Prentice Hall), pp. 81–110.
S. Grant (1988) Sovereignty or Security? Government Policy in the Canadian North, 1936–1950 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press).
P. W. Lackenbauer and P. Kikkert (2011) ‘Sovereignty and Security: The Department of External Affairs, the United States, and Arctic Sovereignty, 1945–68’, in G. Donaghy and M. Carroll, eds, In the National Interest: Canadian Foreign Policy and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 1909–2009 (Calgary: University of Calgary Press), pp. 101–20.
R. Huebert (2001) ‘A Northern Foreign Policy: The Politics of Ad Hocery’, in N. Michaud and K. R. Nossal, eds, Diplomatic Departures: The Conservative Era in Canadian Foreign Policy, 1984–93 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press), pp. 84–112.
See also P. W. Lackenbauer and P. Kikkert (2010) The Canadian Forces and Arctic Sovereignty: Debating Roles, Interests, and Requirements, 1968–1974 (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press).
D. Morton (2000) ‘Providing and Consuming Security in Canada’s Century’, Canadian Historical Review, 81:1, 1–28.
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1991) The Arctic Environmental Strategy: An Action Plan (Ottawa: DIAND).
R. Huebert (1999) ‘Canadian Arctic Security Issues: Transformation in the Post-Cold War Era’, International Journal, 54:2, 203–29;
K. Coates, P. W. Lackenbauer, W. Morrison, and G. Poelzer (2008) Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North (Toronto: Thomas Allen).
O. R. Young (1998) Creating Regimes: Arctic Accords and International Governance (Ithaca: Cornell University Press);
J. English (2013) Ice and Water: Politics, Peoples, and the Arctic Council (Toronto: Allen Lane).
Department of National Defense (2000) Arctic Capabilities Study, 1948–3-CC4C (DGSP), (Ottawa: Director General Strategic Planning);
P. W. Lackenbauer (2009) From Polar Race to Polar Saga: An Integrated Strategy for Canada and the Circumpolar World (Toronto: Canadian International Council).
Government of Canada (2005) Canada’s International Policy Statement: A Role of Pride and Influence in the World (Overview) (Ottawa: Foreign Affairs Canada), p. 3.
Government of Canada (2009) Canada’s Northern Strategy: Our North, Our Heritage, Our Future (Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs), http://www.northernstrategy.gc.ca/cns/cns-eng.asp.
E. W. Rowe (2012) ‘A Dangerous Space? Unpacking State and Media Discourses on the Arctic’, Polar Geography, 36:3, 232–44.
M. Byers and S. Lalonde (2009) ‘Who Controls the Northwest Passage?’, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 42, pp. 1133–210.
For example J. Kraska. ‘International Security and International Law in the Northwest Passage’, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 42 (2009), 1109–32.
J. Ferris and J. Keeley (2006) ‘Canada and Continental Security: Policies, Threats and Architecture’, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 9:2, 1–21.
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© 2016 Rob Huebert and P. Whitney Lackenbauer
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Huebert, R., Lackenbauer, P.W. (2016). Premier Partners: Canada, the United States, and Arctic Security. In: Berry, D.A., Bowles, N., Jones, H. (eds) Governing the North American Arctic. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137493910_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137493910_7
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