What Comes After War? The Problem of Reconstruction by Kirk W. Goodlet

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Four weeks ago I successfully defended my PhD dissertation. Over the last several years, I had been rapt with exploring the history of post-war reconstruction in northwest Europe, particularly in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, and the many challenges civilians of this region faced both during and after the Second World War. These included civil-military issues, institutional problems, as well as socio-economic problems that hindered recovery once the war came to an end. What I found most interesting was that the weeks leading up to my defence were filled with media bytes about Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and Israeli Air Force (IAF) were killing civilians by the score, but they were also targeting known Hamas militants who had orchestrated attacks on Israel. I couldn’t help but draw some parallels between the civilians I had been so concerned about over the course of researching and writing my dissertation, and the people of Gaza who were caught in the crossfire and subject to the awesome power of Israeli air superiority.

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'Buying a Seat at the Table': Canadian Defence Policy in Reaction to ISIS

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As pressure mounts on the United States and its allies to take strategic action against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, commonly known as ISIS, Canada’s financial contribution (or lack thereof) to Western democratic defence is taking severe heat in political forums and the media. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged further action in support of growing international efforts to combat ISIS and the persistent threat of Islamic extremism in the Middle East. Harper’s promise came this week while speaking with other world leaders in London, England in response to the horrific execution of a second US freelance journalist, Steven Sotloff. Calls for an increase in Canada’s financial contribution to Western defence are reportedly growing stronger from within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), putting the nation in an awkward and touchy situation. In today’s post we briefly examine the economics of Canada’s post-1945 defence policy, to provide a historical perspective to this most recent predicament.

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Canada's Cold War - Part III

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This post is part three of our examination into Cold War Canada. In our first post we situated Canada’s post-1945 national interests within the context of a North American bilateral security relationship with the United States, and in our second post we broadened that framework to examine social and cultural implications that resulted from the so-called “Gouzenko Affair” of 1945-46 and the subsequent “Red Scare” that took hold in Canada as well as the United States. Today we return to the topic of national security to further examine the unique defence relationship which emerged in northern North America during the early Cold War period.

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Is Nuclear War Conceivable? A Cautionary Retrospective on the Escalating ‘Crisis in Ukraine’

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Since the so-called ‘Crisis in Ukraine’ made international headlines, speculations abound over the possibility of escalated war. Considering that U.S. President Barack Obama has led international leaders in the continued condemnation of Russian action toward Ukraine, it’s not surprising that concerns over a potential war have been partially wrapped in Cold War rhetoric. Both the United States and Russia have maintained their nuclear arsenals and international intervention in the Crimea remains a real and perhaps immanent possibility, but is there any real legitimacy to the comparisons drawn between the contemporary situation and the Cold War which characterized the second-half of the twentieth century? Setting ideological considerations aside, this post provides a brief overview of the post-1945 technological strategic balance to answer this question.

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Canada's Cold War - Part I

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Today we launch the first of a series of posts examining Canada's Cold War. It is a political history and our aim is to explore the ups and downs of the relationship between Canada and America. Canada's Cold War was anything but boring – as you will find out in the coming weeks – but we not always the most stalwart ally to our American neighbours.

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