Explaining Canada’s practices of burden-sharing in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) through its norm of “external responsibility”

Abstract

While Canadian burden-sharing practices within NATO in the 1990s are well documented, the data in the literature raise two central questions: (1) was the practice of Canadian burden-sharing a one-time event, or was it part of a larger pattern of practices? and (2) what factors motivated Canada to shoulder the burden to the extent that it did? This article studies the extent of Canada’s burden-sharing practices in the context of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. The article makes two arguments: first, Canada’s commitment to NATO continued to be strong post-9/11; second, Canada’s practices of sharing Atlantic burdens can be explained by its adherence to the norm of “external responsibility,” which guided its foreign policy by appealing to Canada’s humanitarian responsibilities to contribute at an extraordinary level to the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security.