The Strategic Constitution

Understanding Canadian Power in the World

By Irvin Studin
Categories: Political Science, Canadian Political Science, International Relations, Law & Legal Studies
Series: Law and Society
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774827140, 284 pages, May 2014
Paperback : 9780774827157, 284 pages, October 2014
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774827164, 284 pages, May 2014
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774827171, 284 pages, May 2014
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Table of contents

Preface

Introduction

Part 1: The Conceptual Framework for Assessing Canadian Strategic Power in Constitutional Terms

1 Framing Some Key Concepts

2 Diplomacy

3 The Military

4 Government, or Pure Executive Potency

5 Natural Resources (and Food)

6 National Economic Might

7 Communications

8 Population

9 The Strategic Constitution as Conceptual and Analytical Framework

Part 2: Applying the Conceptual Framework: Four Policy Case Studies

Case Study A: Canadian Strategic Leadership in the Americas

Case Study B: Bona Fide War

Case Study C: Arctic Sovereignty

Case Study D: National Security-Counterterrorism

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Ushers in a brand new school of constitutional scholarship in Canada.

Description

Historically, Canada’s Constitution has been principally viewed as a federal framework or a rights bulwark. This book offers a new interpretation. The “Strategic Constitution,” as proposed by Irvin Studin, is a framework for understanding the capacity of Canada to project strategic power in the world. First, Studin provides a wide-ranging audit of the Constitution in terms of its treatment of factors of strategic power. He then applies the Strategic Constitution framework to four policy case studies. Provocative and well-argued, this book makes the case for the Constitution being a flexible national framework that quietly harbours seeds of national strategic potency.