Between Promise and Practice:  Problematizing the Contradictory Role of Peacekeeping in Canadian Strategic Culture, 1991-2017

Peacekeeping has become one of the most enduring traditions, symbols, and narratives that constitutes Canadian national identity and strategic culture since Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for creating the first peacekeeping force. However, upon closer inspection of Canada’s record on peacekeeping, contradictions emerge between the promise and practice of this national tradition. Why does peacekeeping persist as a tenet of Canadian identity and strategic culture when it no longer plays a prominent international role in peacekeeping? While perplexing, the theories of strategic cultural change and competing strategic subcultures provide the framework for addressing this question. This thesis finds that contradictions persist in the promise and practice of peacekeeping because while the Pearsonian Internationalist subculture that grew out of Canada’s peacekeeping achievements is no longer a dominant worldview, it endures as a potent vestigial influence that...Show morePeacekeeping has become one of the most enduring traditions, symbols, and narratives that constitutes Canadian national identity and strategic culture since Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for creating the first peacekeeping force. However, upon closer inspection of Canada’s record on peacekeeping, contradictions emerge between the promise and practice of this national tradition. Why does peacekeeping persist as a tenet of Canadian identity and strategic culture when it no longer plays a prominent international role in peacekeeping? While perplexing, the theories of strategic cultural change and competing strategic subcultures provide the framework for addressing this question. This thesis finds that contradictions persist in the promise and practice of peacekeeping because while the Pearsonian Internationalist subculture that grew out of Canada’s peacekeeping achievements is no longer a dominant worldview, it endures as a potent vestigial influence that continues to strike at the heart of what it means to be Canadian and helps contextualize the efficaciousness of the new Robust Western Ally hegemonic subculture’s policy preferences. Through employing a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to reveal the mechanisms of power employed by the competing subcultures in academic, media, and political discourses, this thesis sheds light on how norms, narratives, and cultural factors that have clandestinely and conflictingly influenced strategic preferences on peacekeeping in Canada from 1991 to 2017.Show less

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Between Promise and Practice: Problematizing the Contradictory Role of Peacekeeping in Canadian Strategic Culture, 1991-2017