Canada jilted? The state of the debate
Bush-era U.N. aide Richard Grenell accuses the Obama administration of abandoning Canada in its bid for a Security Council seat. Some conservatives in Canada believe that the Obama team worked with Canadian liberals to leave Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s conservative government hanging without vocal U.S. support. In the past, American ambassadors around the globe were ...
Bush-era U.N. aide Richard Grenell accuses the Obama administration of abandoning Canada in its bid for a Security Council seat.
Bush-era U.N. aide Richard Grenell accuses the Obama administration of abandoning Canada in its bid for a Security Council seat.
Some conservatives in Canada believe that the Obama team worked with Canadian liberals to leave Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s conservative government hanging without vocal U.S. support. In the past, American ambassadors around the globe were instructed by Washington and led by the U.S. Mission to the U.N. to work aggressively behind the scenes rallying capitals around the world to support certain countries in crucial Security Council elections. At other times, vocal American support was needed to highlight a priority U.S. issue. In Canada’s case, Rice chose to say nothing publicly and declined to lead a global campaign on behalf of our northern neighbor. Her silence also seemed politically coordinated when Canadian Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff criticized his own country’s policies on climate change and its staunch support for Israel — policies the Obama team disagrees with.
David Frum chews over the evidence and concludes that there was probably no secret plan to undermine Ottawa — just old-fashioned diplomatic negligence.
It is possible that the real answer is much more blunderingly simple. The Obama administration dropped the ball, went passive, couldn’t be bothered. It was a botch, not a plan. That’s the least interesting and least satisfying explanation, but maybe in the end, the most plausible.
Mark Leon Goldberg thinks they’re both nuts — but doesn’t doubt that conservative politics played a role in Canada’s defeat.
[C]anada is not the international boyscout it once was. Prime minister Stephen Harper’s decision to align himself with Frum’s former boss on issues like climate change and human rights is coming home to roost. The rest of the world took notice, and when given a choice between Canada and Portugal, apparently decided that Lisbon was alright with them.
Meanwhile, realists everywhere are scratching their heads over why states actually care about seats on the Security Council.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
More from Foreign Policy

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America
The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense
If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War
Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests
And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.