Sharing the Burden?: NATO and its Second-Tier Powers

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATOs middle powers have been pressured into shouldering an increasing share of the costs of the transatlantic alliance. In Sharing the Burden? Benjamin Zyla rejects the claim that countries like Canada have shirked their responsibilities within NATO.

Using a range of measures that go beyond troop numbers and defense budgets to include peacekeeping commitments, foreign economic assistance, and contributions to NATOs rapid reaction forces and infrastructure, Zyla argues that, proportionally, Canadas NATO commitments in the 1990s rivaled those of the alliances major powers. At the same time, he demonstrates that Canadian policy was driven by strong normative principles to assist failed and failing states rather than a desire to ride the coattails of the United States, as is often presumed.

An important challenge to realist theories, Sharing the Burden? is a significant contribution to the debate on the nature of alliances in international relations.