The Canadian Military and the Use of Force: End of an Era?
| Date | 01 June 1975 |
| Published date | 01 June 1975 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207503000206 |
| Author | R.B. Byers |
| Subject Matter | Article |
R.B.
BYERS
The
Canadian
military
and
the
use
of
force:
end
of
an
era?
Within
the
last decade
the
utility
and
application
of
force
as
a
means
of
resolving
international
disputes
has
been
seriously chal-
lenged
by an
increasing
spectrum
of
society
in
a
large
number
of
the
industrialized
democratic
nation-states.
The
escalating
arms
race
between
the superpowers, the
continued
probability
of
nuclear proliferation with
India
now
representing
the
most
re-
cent
addition,
the
vast
allocation
of
resources
to
defence
spend-
ing, an
expanding
arms
trade
with
oil-rich
Middle
East
countries,
the
rate
of
technological
change,
and
the
recent
memories
of
the
disastrous
results of
American
intervention in
Vietnam
have
all
contributed
to
a
sense
that
the
use
of
force
by
modern
nation-
states
to
achieve
foreign
policy
and/or
domestic
objectives
has
be-
come
dysfunctional.
Ironically,
this
climate of
opinion
occurs
at
a
time
when
the
utility
of force
in
other
parts
of
the
international
sys-
tem appears
readily
accepted
and
even
necessary.
Interstate
wars
in
parts
of
the
Third
World,
such
as
the
Middle
East
and
continental
Asia,
continue
to
be
accepted
by
the
participants.
Similarly,
the
ap-
plication
of
force
has
been
increasingly employed
to
challenge
or
uphold
existing
r~gimes
-
primarily military
juntas
or dictatorships
-
in
many
parts
of
Latin
America
and
Africa.
Furthermore,
the
semi-legitimacy
bestowed
on the
Palestine
Liberation
Organization
by
the
United
Nations,
as
well
as
the methods
adopted
by
the
Irish
Republican
Army
in
Northern
Ireland,
indicate
that
terrorism
can
produce political
benefits
and
add
credibility
to
the
dictum
that
force
is
the
continuation
of politics
by
other
means.
Associate
Professor
of
Political
Science
and
Associate
Dean
of
Arts,
York
University.
The author
gratefully
acknowledges
the valuable
observations
of
Professor
John
Gellner
of
York
University on
a
preliminary
draft
of
this
article.
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