1. Canada (En)Counters Terrorism.
- Author
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Kitchen, Veronica and Sasikumar, Karthika
- Subjects
- *
COUNTERTERRORISM , *CANADA-United States relations , *INTERNATIONAL relations - Abstract
How do states come to perceive that they are threatened by terrorism? And how do their specific features/characteristics determine their response to the threat? This paper examines the responses of Canada to international terrorism and highlights the different ways in which national identity determines when states will feel threatened and how they will respond. Canada is a good case study because we would expect it to follow American counter-terrorism policy closely for two reasons: first, because the Canadian economy is dependent on ties with the United States, and second, because of the close social, historical, and political links between the two countries.We ask how Canada came to see itself as threatened by international terrorism. We examine the responses of Canadians and the Canadian government to the attacks on the United States in September, 2001. We show that this threat perception is based on ideas of identity as much as on objective âfactsâ. We then discuss how dominant ideas about Canadian identity shaped the manner in which Canada responded to the threat. We do this by examining a number of policies enacted by the Canadian government in the years after 9/11, such as the 2001 Smart Border Accords and the Passenger Protect no-fly list, and find that they diverge from American policies in significant and interesting ways. We also examine Canadian responses to American counter-terrorism policies such as rendition and new passport requirements. Again, we find Canadian responses conditioned by Canadian identity. We conclude with some implications for theory and policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008