Thread by @caredunton

Hi! I’m Caroline and I work on Canada🇨🇦 at the UNSC🇺🇳 This is a work in progress – thoughts are welcome as I dig through archival documents and start interviews (by phone)! #WIISTOTC

For an intro to UNSC members, READ: ask.un.org/faq/269232

In IR, we know much about the UNSC, but limited to the P5. We know less about elected states (E10): how they perform, what they do, how to campaign. BUT we do know the E10 matter. My discussant @achapnick wrote a book on this! #WIISTOTC

https://twitter.com/caredunton/status/1228110436115066885

I aim to understand the E10 and focus on one in particular: 🇨🇦🇨🇦

The UN Charter 🇺🇳 wanted elected states (at the time only 6) to be chosen for geographical representation and ability to contribute to peace/security & council mandate. #WIISTOTC

So, how has Canada done? How does it compare as an elected member? Canada has served 6 times but is on the 9th campaign RIGHT NOW. #WIISTOTC
Tables: 1 = Ranking of states by years served, 2 = Canada’s campaigns

Of course, international politics isn’t straightforward. States obviously don’t want to join the UNSC just to *contribute* or do service to the UN. States obviously don’t just campaign on that either! #WIISTOTC

Often, states talk about their identities/who they are to win seats. Many states might do it a little bit, but sometimes they directly link it to the reasons WHY they should be elected. This connects to IR work on identity & ontological security #WIISTOTC

Winning a seat is a MaJoR sTaTuS gAiN – many states treat it as such. Others try to use seats as a stepping stone to bigger status and foreign policy goals. #WIISTOTC

This is where I suspect identity narratives are most common – places where they signal status seeking+concerns about identity + ontological security beyond the UNSC. I’m working on how this helps us understand the concepts of status, identity, & recognition. #WIISTOTC

So, what I do is make historical comparisons between foreign policy priorities and goals, status aims, and UNSC campaigns at particular points in time. Canada has 9 of these that vary – those are my focus. #WIISTOTC

In doing so, I’m hoping to fully sketch a 75 year history of identity and status seeking in Canadian foreign policy #WIISTOTC. Some fun photos (this is the coolest tweet tbh) that show you what this history contains:

Like in the comic above, in 1946, Canada spoke of how it had proven its contributions and capabilities during/after WWII to earn the seat it lost to Australia, who argued for geographic representation. Both Charter concepts. #WIISTOTC

Think about how different this is from campaigns that talk about who Canadians are & why we matter! This is the crux of the historical research I am doing – & connecting it to Canadian mythology, colonialism, and sense of self. #WIISTOTC

And that is it! Thank you! All photos come from my own searches. Library and Archives Canada, courtesy of Global Affairs Canada. Tables are my own.