Canada's Long Term Strategic Situation

Bibliographic Data

ID5884595
AuthorsRobert J Sutherland (0000-0002-2539-4312, Department of National Defence, corresponding author)
Year1962
Volume17
Issue3
Pages199
Publication date1962-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal Canada s Journal of Global Policy Analysis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7020 • E-ISSN: 2052-465X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/40198632
OpenAlexW4244491598
LanguageEN
Citations received11

the end of Hitler's war the world has changed almost beyond recognition. The increasing power of weaponry has played a conspicuous role, but developments of a political nature have been equally revolutionary, and are, in the long run, almost certainly more important. This sequence of rapid and dramatic change has led to two results: traditional conceptions of national security and national defence have been called into question, but visibility has been reduced. Nevertheless, security and the protection of vital national interests remain for every nation a constant preoccupation of policy. It is also true that the very concept of national security implies a consistency of purpose and major policy extending over decades and even generations. The search for stable foundations of policy in the face of drastic and revolutionary change poses a problem of almost excruciating difficulty for all nations, including the two superpowers. We should not be surprised that Canadians find these problems intractable and in some respects insoluble. However, in our case there is a special consideration. Canada has no particular tradition of strategic calculation. Such tradition as we possess seems to be that strategy is a suitable diversion for retired generals who need not be taken very seriously. Yet the increasing attention which is being given to the problems of security and survival by Canadians of the most diverse opinions and backgrounds shows that we too are caught up in the fortunes of a dynamic and dangerous world. We have discovered, as Leon Trotsky once observed, that anyone who desires a quiet life should not have been born in the twentieth century. Generals, it is often said, prepare for the last war rather than the next; and a similar hazard affects the lucubrations of

Physics · Political science · Term (time · Canadian Policy and Governance · Military and Defense Studies

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