British Settler Constitution-Writing, Racialized Geopolitics, and Ideas of Global Order, c. 1865-1935

This project revisits Canadian and imperial history, seeking to understand the relationship between constitutions, settler colonialism, and globalization, which shaped and continues to shape Canada and the world. Understanding them in this era of populism and nationalist governments is particularly urgent. Constitutions remain central to liberal democratic self-understanding and critically reexamining their spread among British settler colonies is crucial to understanding the problems we are facing today. Brexit, the devolution of authority in the United Kingdom, provincial separation movements in Western Canada and Quebec are excellent reasons to revisit questions of federalism, constitutions, and sovereignty. However, even more pressing are the legitimate concerns of Indigenous nations in Canada and around the world. It is more important than ever to understand ideas, institutions, and process at the core of liberal democracy and to understand their connections to racism and settler colonialism. In doing so, this project contributes to ongoing policy and governance debates about decolonization and globalization. These are some of the biggest problems facing Canada today and understanding how they came to be is crucial to imagining new and innovative futures.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jeffrey L McNairn

Student:

Partner:

King's College London

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Queen's University

Program: