Summary
Alexander Moens
Canada en zijn zoektocht naar een politieke identiteit: een veiligheids- en defensie akkoord voor Noord-Amerika?
Alexander Moens deals with Canadian security and foreign policy and the crisis into which it has been plunged after 'September 11'. The emphasis on 'homeland defence' on the North-American continent following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, as well as the growing integration of their economies, have resulted in ever closer security and economic relations between Canada and the United States. These developments have dumped Canada, traditionally a state with more European than American characteristics, into an identity crisis. Under fierce pressure from the Bush government to cooperate more closely with Washington in security areas, Canada's search for a political identity has been made much more difficult. Since current developments have made it highly unlikely that this pressure can be resisted, Canada has to divert its attention to its social and cultural policies in order to maintain some sort of separate political identity.