Editors’ Introduction

DOI10.1177/0020702017750552
Date01 December 2017
Published date01 December 2017
Subject MatterEditors’ Introduction
SG-IJXJ170066 443..444
International Journal
2017, Vol. 72(4) 443
Editors’ Introduction
! The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702017750552
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We are very pleased in this issue to present a collection of three articles exploring defence
policy and the military in Canada, with particular attention to gendered constructions of the
military and the construction of gender roles/relationships in relation to the military. Nicole
Wegner starts things of‌f by challenging conventional accounts of public opinion on Canada’s
military intervention in Afghanistan, by uncovering the Harper government’s use of ‘‘support
the troops’’ rhetoric to undercut opposition to the mission. Andrea Lane then looks at the
growing emphasis on male-only special forces units within the Canadian military, as a means
to ‘‘[exclude] women from the CAF’s most highly-valued roles, even as the military continues
to assert its gender-neutrality and progressive, integrated force structure.’’ Leigh Spanner
shifts the focus to ‘‘the homefront,’’ outlining the military’s reliance on the support of military
spouses and families to sustain its operations, and questions the military’s ability to adapt to
changing gender roles and family structures.
In the issue’s fourth article, Srdjan Vucetic brings up gender in another way, pointing to
the jarring misf‌it between the Trudeau government’s declared commitment to a distinctly
feminist foreign policy and its ongoing involvement in the...

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