Canada and the OAS: From dilettante to full partner.
Date
1992
Authors
McKenna, Peter.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Dalhousie University
Abstract
Description
Since the early 1900s, Canada's relations with the inter-American community have not engendered a great deal of attention among policy-makers and opinion-makers in Canada. For the most part, Canada's involvement in the hemisphere has consistently occupied a low priority in the conduct of Canadian foreign policy. However, the issue of Canada's association with inter-American political institutions--namely, the Pan American Union (PAU) and the Organization of American States (OAS)--has tended to dominate Canadian-Latin American relations. More specifically, the question of Canadian membership in these bodies has been not only a recurring issue, but also a contentious one.
In late 1989, though, the Conservative government--in opting to join the OAS--settled the membership debate once and for all. After more than fifty years of aloofness toward the body, the government of Brian Mulroney felt that it was time "for Canada to occupy the vacant chair at the OAS that has been reserved for us all these years." The reasons for undertaking this move, however, have remained somewhat of a mystery. What is for certain is that Canada became the thirty-third member of the OAS in early January 1990, when Canada's Ambassador to the OAS, Jean-Paul Hubert, took his seat in the Council chambers.
Broadly speaking, this study focuses on Canada's association with the principal political institutions of the Inter-American System. In addition to detailing the evolution of Pan Americanism and its institutional offshoots, it discusses Canada's position or attitude toward these institutional entities. It also examines how the OAS's record of performance (during a number of hemispheric crises of conflicts), and the various reform movements within the body, have influenced Canada's position on the membership question. Furthermore, it outlines the key actors in the membership debate as well as their respective positions on admission. Moreover, it analyses the reasons underpinning the Conservative government's decision to join the hemispheric forum in late 1989. Lastly, it concludes with a discussion of both the opportunities and constraints which Canada will have to contend with as a full-fledged member of the OAS.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1992.
In late 1989, though, the Conservative government--in opting to join the OAS--settled the membership debate once and for all. After more than fifty years of aloofness toward the body, the government of Brian Mulroney felt that it was time "for Canada to occupy the vacant chair at the OAS that has been reserved for us all these years." The reasons for undertaking this move, however, have remained somewhat of a mystery. What is for certain is that Canada became the thirty-third member of the OAS in early January 1990, when Canada's Ambassador to the OAS, Jean-Paul Hubert, took his seat in the Council chambers.
Broadly speaking, this study focuses on Canada's association with the principal political institutions of the Inter-American System. In addition to detailing the evolution of Pan Americanism and its institutional offshoots, it discusses Canada's position or attitude toward these institutional entities. It also examines how the OAS's record of performance (during a number of hemispheric crises of conflicts), and the various reform movements within the body, have influenced Canada's position on the membership question. Furthermore, it outlines the key actors in the membership debate as well as their respective positions on admission. Moreover, it analyses the reasons underpinning the Conservative government's decision to join the hemispheric forum in late 1989. Lastly, it concludes with a discussion of both the opportunities and constraints which Canada will have to contend with as a full-fledged member of the OAS.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1992.
Keywords
History, Canadian., Political Science, International Law and Relations.