Sutherland - Insights from a Cold War Strategist
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... - Dr. R. J. Sutherland, Canada’s Long Term Strategic Situation
INTRODUCTION
In his 1962 essay, “Canada’s Long Term Strategic Situation”, Dr. R. J. Sutherland took the unusually bold step of predicting the stable foundations of Canadian defence policy for the next four decades, even though he was writing at the height of Cold War tensions and amidst revolutionary developments in nuclear weapons technology. An economist, cavalry officer and operational analyst with experience of World War Two and the Korean conflict, much of Sutherland’s work for the Department of Defence remains classified and although his career was cut short by his untimely death in 1967, aged only 45, he is considered by many to have been “Canada’s preeminent strategist of the 1950s and 1960s”.
Sutherland was working for Canada’s Defence Research Board when his seminal essay on Canadian security was published in the International Journal. Despite the dramatic global changes since “Hitler’s War”, Sutherland argued that the very concept of national security required consistent policies to be applied over many decades and suggested that looking ahead to the “far horizon” of the year 2000 could help to determine the long term basis of Canadian security and defence policy. Whilst articulating why all out thermonuclear war was unlikely, Sutherland still presented an essentially Hobbesian view of the international system, contending that “The game of power politics has been going on since the dawn of history…” and as such a peaceful world order would not be achieved by the start of the next millennium. Despite these uncertainties, Sutherland posited that there were certain “invariants” in Canada’s strategic situation related to geography, economics and the broad national interests that would drive Canada’s natural alliances and
INTRODUCTION
In his 1962 essay, “Canada’s Long Term Strategic Situation”, Dr. R. J. Sutherland took the unusually bold step of predicting the stable foundations of Canadian defence policy for the next four decades, even though he was writing at the height of Cold War tensions and amidst revolutionary developments in nuclear weapons technology. An economist, cavalry officer and operational analyst with experience of World War Two and the Korean conflict, much of Sutherland’s work for the Department of Defence remains classified and although his career was cut short by his untimely death in 1967, aged only 45, he is considered by many to have been “Canada’s preeminent strategist of the 1950s and 1960s”.
Sutherland was working for Canada’s Defence Research Board when his seminal essay on Canadian security was published in the International Journal. Despite the dramatic global changes since “Hitler’s War”, Sutherland argued that the very concept of national security required consistent policies to be applied over many decades and suggested that looking ahead to the “far horizon” of the year 2000 could help to determine the long term basis of Canadian security and defence policy. Whilst articulating why all out thermonuclear war was unlikely, Sutherland still presented an essentially Hobbesian view of the international system, contending that “The game of power politics has been going on since the dawn of history…” and as such a peaceful world order would not be achieved by the start of the next millennium. Despite these uncertainties, Sutherland posited that there were certain “invariants” in Canada’s strategic situation related to geography, economics and the broad national interests that would drive Canada’s natural alliances and
Bibliography: Bashevkin, Sylvia. "An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada? Challenges and Choices for the Future." Labour no. 65 (2010): 200-202,http://search.proquest.com/docview /347842317?accountid=9867 (accessed October 22, 2012). Bland, Douglas Blunden, Margaret. “The New Problem of Arctic Stability,” Survival, Volume 51 no. 5 (October-November 2009). Buteux, Paul. "Sutherland revisited : Canada 's long-term strategic situtation". Canadian Defence Quarterly. (September 1994): 5-9. Granatstein, J. L., "The End of Peacekeeping?" Canada 's History 92, no. 5 (October 2012): 44-51. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 31, 2012). Granatstein, J. L., Whose War is it? (Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 2007). Huebert, Rob. “Canadian Arctic Security: Understanding and Responding to the Coming Storm,” Canadian International Council (July 2008). Leacy, F. H., “Historical Statistics of Canada,” Second Edition (Ottawa, ON: Statistics of Canada, 1983) Lee, James and David Bellamy Lennox, Patrick. “The Illusion of Independence.” In An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada? Challenges and Choices for the Future, edited by Brian Bow and Patrick Lennox. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. Lovegrove, Dwayne. "Sutherland in the 21st century: invariants in Canada 's policy agenda since 9/11". Canadian Military Journal 10, no. 2 (summer 2010) : 13-19. Malot, Maureen, “The Trade-Security Nexus:the new reality in Canada-US economic integration,” The American Review of Canadian Studies, Volume 33, Issue 1 (Spring 2003). Richter, Andrew. "The Sutherland Papers: A Glimpse into the Thinking of Canada 's Preeminent Strategist." Canadian Defence Quarterly 27, no. 1 (1997): 28-33, http://search.proquest.com/docview/197175109?accountid=9867 (accessed October 22, 2012). Tomlin, Brian, Norman Hillmer, and Fen Osler Hampson. “Streams in the Development Policy Process.” In Canadian International Policies: Agendas, Alternatives, and Politics. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2008. Canada. Canadian International Development Agency. CIDA’S Aid Effectiveness Action Plan (2009-2012). Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2010. Canada. Department of National Defence. Canada First Defence Strategy. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2008. Canada. Department of National Defence. Canada’s International Policy Statement: A Role of Pride and Influence in the World. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2005. Canada [ 2 ]. David Bellamy and James Lee, "Dr. R.J. Sutherland: A Retrospect". Canadian Defence Quarterly, (Summer 1987): 41. [ 5 ]. Paul Buteux. "Sutherland revisited : Canada 's long-term strategic situtation". Canadian Defence Quarterly. (September 1994): 5-9. [ 9 ]. Rob Huebert, “Canadian Arctic Security: Understanding and Responding to the Coming Storm,” Canadian International Council (July 2008),1. [ 10 ]. Margaret Blunden, “The New Problem of Arctic Stability,” Survival, Volume 51 no. 5 (October-November 2009), 121. [ 11 ]. Canada. Department of National Defence. Canada First Defence Strategy. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2008, 6. [ 14 ]. Lovegrove, Dwayne. "Sutherland in the 21st century: invariants in Canada 's policy agenda since 9/11". Canadian Military Journal. 10, no. 2 (Summer 2010), 15. [ 15 ]. Frank P. Harvey, "Canada’s Addiction to American Security : The Illusion of Choice in the War on Terrorism,” The American Review of Canadian Studies, Volume 35, Issue 2 (Summer 2005), 266. [ 16 ]. Canada. Department of National Defence. Canada First Defence Strategy. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2008, 8. [ 18 ]. J. L. Granatstein, Gordon S. Smith and Denis Stairs, “A Threatened Future: Canada’s Future Strategic Environment and its Security Implications,” Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute (2007), 15. [ 19 ]. Lovegrove, Dwayne. "Sutherland in the 21st century: invariants in Canada 's policy agenda since 9/11". Canadian Military Journal. 10, no. 2 (Summer 2010), 15. [ 22 ]. Paul Helyer and Lucien Cardin, “Canada, White Paper on Defence,” (1964), 10. [ 24 ]. Maureen Malot, “The Trade-Security Nexus:the new reality in Canada-US economic integration,” The American Review of Canadian Studies, Volume 33, Issue 1 (Spring 2003): 27. [ 25 ]. F H Leacy, Historical Statistics of Canada, Second Edition (Ottawa, ON: Statistics of Canada, 1983) [ 26 ] [ 27 ]. Dwayne Lovegrove. "Sutherland in the 21st century: invariants in Canada 's policy agenda since 9/11". Canadian Military Journal. 10, no. 2 (Summer 2010), 15. [ 29 ]. J. L. Granatstein, Whose War is it? (Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 2007), 84. [ 37 ]. J. L. Granatstein, Whose War is it? (Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 2007), 90.