Canada and the Use of Force: Reclaiming Human Security

THE EVENTS OF 11 SEPTEMBER 2001 PROPELLED the issue of global terrorism to the top of the international agenda, and prompted dramatic shifts in international political dynamics. Although there is wide agreement that the world is facing complex security challenges, a harsh debate has opened up over the appropriate responses. Building on the existing rhetoric of the "clash of civilizations,"(1) this debate was initially cast as one between the west and Islam and emerged immediately upon the invasion of Afghanistan. What is now apparent is that fissures have broken open within western culture that may be equally wide.(2) The most pointed disagreements pit the political and cultural elites of "Old Europe" against those of the United States,(3) but the phenomenon is broader, setting traditional allies such as the United States and Canada in opposition to each other.(4) Moreover, within western states, political divisions over the war in Iraq accentuated a widening chasm between "liberal" and "neo-conservative" forces.(5) (6) See Allen Buchanan & Robert O. Keohane, "The Preventive Use of Force: A Cosmopolitan Institutional Perspective," Ethics & International Affairs 18 (2004):1. The authors argue the need to develop international law and institutional arrangements for "cosmopolitan accountability" regarding the use of preventive force to protect human rights. Also various contributions to J.L. Holzgrefe & Robert O. Keohane (eds.), Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 2003); Anne-Marie Slaughter, "Prazisionswaffe Volkerrecht: Die Demokratien mussen sich verbunden - zu einer neuen Kraft innerhalb der UN," Die Zeit 28, no. 3 (July 2003), www.zeit.de/2003/28/Essay_Slaughter (accessed 21 August 2003); Anne-Marie Slaughter, "Notes from the President: A Fork in the Road," American Society of International Law Newsletter 1 (September/October 2003): 4, which suggests a "caucus of democracies" or other "alternative fora of discussion in the UN, and perhaps ultimately of legitimation for action taken by some sub-set of UN actors." (20) See media declarations by leading internationalists in Australia, Canada, and the US. "Howard must not involve us in an illegal war," The Age (26 February 2003), www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/25/1046064031296.html (accessed 11 March 2003); "Military Action in Iraq Without Security Council Authorization Would be Illegal," Open Letter signed by 31 Canadian Professors of Internat