Dr. James M. Lindsay discusses Canada, US and security.

Dr. Lindsay is the Director of Studies and Vice President, Maurice R. Greenberg Chair, at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a leading authority on domestic influences on American foreign policy. He is the former director for global issues and multilateral affairs on the National Security Council.

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Note: The opinions presented are not necessarily those of the Government of Canada.

Canadian Security Issues	3 minutes	Quicktime
Questions for Canadians	1 minute	Quicktime
The American Century	2 minutes	Quicktime

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Transcript:

Canadian security issues

I think that Canadians are probably already well aware of what the major security threats are. The leading one right now is terrorism. The United States, indeed the West, is engaged in a struggle against ideologically-minded terrorists. These are people who are relatively small in number, but very committed and willing to commit atrocities in their name. This affects Canadians directly because, obviously, Americans are the primary target and Canada can become both a venue by which attacks could be launched in the United States, but also collateral damage if a successful attack is waged at the United States. I think many Canadians can remember back after 9/11, when a lot of the traffic that came across the borders from Canada to the United States was slowed or halted. I think one of the great concerns Canadians will have in terms of their own economic self-interest is that there should not be a major attack on American mode of transport - container ships, destruction of bridges connecting the United States and Canada - because it could really hurt the Canadian economy. The United States and Canadian economies are heavily intertwined, Canada being America’s largest trading partner. So from a narrow Canadian self-interest, that is an issue.

There is also a broader set of issues for Canada to deal with, and that has to do with the spread of weapons of mass destruction a major challenge of the 21st century. And on this score, I think it’s quite impressive that Canadian Prime Minister Martin has launched a network of working with a lot of people he had worked with when he was Finance Minister, to bring in the so called G-20 countries - looking at ways in which countries that are not traditional great powers can come together and co-operate on issues of common concern. We live in a world today that globalization brings us lots of so-called transnational problems, problems that aren’t contained within borders. Terrorism is one; climate change is another. I think those are the sort of issues that Canadians should grapple with. It is “How can Canada contribute to this?” “What kinds of institutions can we build?” Because I think the world we live in isn’t going to be solved by having ad-hoc coalitions of the willing come together when there’s a problem. I do think we need lasting organizations and I think the question is: If Washington is not going to lead the way in terms of creating those kinds of organizations, what is it that Canadians can do?

Questions for Canadians

For Canadians I think there is a major issue of thinking through what the future of North America should look like. It was 10 years ago that we had the North American Free Trade Agreement, which brought together the United States, Canada and Mexico. It has had some successes, it has had some failures; it has delivered on some promises and hasn’t delivered on others. But I think there is a real question that arises from the fact that we are increasingly intertwined - our economies are clearly interrelated, there are great benefits from that, but there are also great dangers from that – what should be the future of North America? Do we want to go down a road in the direction the European Union has gone? Do we want to think about redefining our security community among our three countries? Bring other countries – Central America and the Caribbean – into that family? There are strong economic arguments for doing it; there are strong homeland security or domestic security reasons for doing it. This is part of the conversation Canadians should be having.

The American Century

There is a famous essay written about 60 years ago by Henry Luce, who was the founder of Time magazine, in which he argued that the second half of the 20th century would be America’s century, that America had an obligation to go out and spread its values and ideals. That fervent belief in American exceptionalism was shaken by Vietnam and it has been shaken again by Iraq. What I’m going to discuss here is really the question of whether the American century is over. My answer is no. American power will continue to be one of the defining features in world politics for the next several decades. The pronouncements of the decline of American power are premature. But if you want to understand world affairs today, it’s not just about American primacy, it’s a twin phenomenon known as globalization. Globalization both enhances American power – contributes to American prosperity – but it’s also a considerable threat to American security, as we saw on September 11th. I think the real challenge for Americans today is not the question whether or not America has power - or even whether America has purpose - but whether America knows how to achieve its purpose.

Dr. Lindsay's articles (in English only)

"An Alliance of Democracies" (May 23, 2004) James M. Lindsay and Ivo H. Daalder, The Washington Post, p. B.07.

"The Globalization of Politics: American Foreign Policy for a New Century" (Winter 2003) James M. Lindsay and Ivo H. Daalder, Brookings Review, Vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 12-17.

"Strategic Failure: U.S., Russia are Losing Momentum to Reduce Nuclear Risk" (November 18, 2001) James M. Lindsay and Ivo H. Daalder, San Jose Mercury News, p. 1F.