ReDefining Traditions

ReDefining Traditions Synopsis

This text contributes to the literature on gender and Canadian foreign policy, an area of study that is very much in its infancy. It introduces a (preliminary) theoretical framework as a way of applying feminist insights to Canadian foreign policy (what the authors call the feminist deconstructive method). Further, it shows the value in focusing on ideas and discourses as a starting point in order to engage conventional scholarship. And while not all encompassing, it provides a means by which to analyze "hard core" security and defence policies. Ultimately, the aim of the text is to legitimize the connection between gender and Canadian foreign policy and to ensure (and compel) students in the field that there are indeed grounds for redefining traditions.