The Canada-Saudi light-armoured vehicles deal is likely to be remembered as the Trudeau government’s first scandal. Situating this deal in a historical-comparative context and using the best available quantitative arms trade data, this analysis advances two main claims. First, Canada’s Liberal governments are just as likely as Conservative governments to encourage exports of Canadian military goods, including goods going to human rights-abusing customers. Second, Canada’s overall arms exporting behaviour is similar to the behaviour of its “international do-gooder” peers, Sweden and the Netherlands. This leads to a more philosophical discussion: what does arms trade mean for feminist foreign policy?
About the speaker
Srdjan Vucetic is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA-ÉSAPI), University of Ottawa; Responsable des études de maîtrise de l’École supérieure d’affaires publiques et internationales; Co-Coordonnateur pour le Réseau en théorie internationale du Centre d’études en politiques internationales (CÉPI-CIPS). Research interests in international politics, include foreign and defence policy, identity, arms trade, and the Yugoslav region (where his name is spelled Srđan Vučetić).
