Pierre Elliott Trudeau was an active participant in the decade of social reform and political awakening that preceded the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, and continued to act as a non-partisan social and political critic until his entry into the federal liberal party in 1966. He based his contribution as pamphleteer for various movements of reform on certain basic philosophical principles. These principles can be described as a belief in the absolute value of humanity, the efficacy of reason in human action, and the necessity of moral participation by the individual in the determination of all phases of his existence. Though these principles are not systematically presented, they are discernible and their understanding is essential as a first step in any appreciation of Trudeau. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Pierre Elliott Trudeau's ideas on liberal democracy and political philosophy are relevant to Canadian life. He is a modern liberal democrat with a vision of the 'Good' society - what he terms the Just Society. The values of a Just Society are numerous, but perhaps, the most important are freedom, equality, and tolerance. These values are core to his theory and are often revealed in his battle against nationalism. Trudeau is radically opposed to notions of ethnic nationalism, such as French Canadian and Aboriginal nationalism, but he supports a type of civic nationalism within a federal, pluralistic system. In his dislike for nationalism, Trudeau is similar to Lord Acton, who has had a major influence on his work. Trudeau also shows thought similar to John Locke, J.S. Mill, I. Berlin, de Tocqueville, Publius, and John Rawls.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau's ideas on liberal democracy and political philosophy are relevant to Canadian life. He is a modern liberal democrat with a vision of the 'Good' society - what he terms the Just Society. The values of a Just Society are numerous, but perhaps, the most important are freedom, equality, and tolerance. These values are core to his theory and are often revealed in his battle against nationalism. Trudeau is radically opposed to notions of ethnic nationalism, such as French Canadian and Aboriginal nationalism, but he supports a type of civic nationalism within a federal, pluralistic system. In his dislike for nationalism, Trudeau is similar to Lord Acton, who has had a major influence on his work. Trudeau also shows thought similar to John Locke, J.S. Mill, I. Berlin, de Tocqueville, Publius, and John Rawls. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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The timeframe of 1978-1984, a period of critical importance in the development of the nuclear world, sets the boundaries for this analysis of Canadian nuclear arms control policy. The situation brought about by increasing hostility between the superpowers, and changes in doctrine and advances in technology that facilitated nuclear war-fighting scenarios, was extremely grave. Therefore it would seem appropriate for Canada, in its traditional role as mediator and middlepower devoted to easing the danger of world conflagration, to have taken an active stand in its nuclear arms control diplomacy. Such was not the case, as bureaucratic politics, cybernetic decision-making, and cognitive dissonance made adherence to the status quo, or minimal rhetorical changes, the order of the day. While that changed towards the end of the period under examination, there remained little substantive modification of policy, despite the growing threat of nuclear disaster. Four examples of Canadian nuclear arms control policy are examined with the aid of official government documents and appropriate commentary from a variety of analysts. Canadian arms control policy at the two United Nations Special Sessions on Disarmament, the controversy over the question of testing the American Air-Launched Cruise Missile in Canada, and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's personal peace initiative provide a wealth of information that is used to illustrate the struggle of bureaucratic politics versus rational decision-making. Some of the more influential theoretical and structural difficulties within the foreign policy-making process in Canada that posed real impediments to comprehensive analytical decision-making are presented. These problems are outlined in order to provide a framework for the analysis of the four policy situations. In the first three cases, the decision-making indicates the predominance of the bureaucracy's cybernetic conduct. In the last instance, the attempts of the Prime Minister to impose rational/analytical decision-making on the policy process caused him to actively circumvent the bureaucracy within Canada, but he was bested by external forces. The thesis of this monograph is that Canadian nuclear arms control policy for much of this period was reactive, limited to well-crafted rhetoric, and oblivious to the changing nature of the strategic environment. The reasons for this policy behavior may be traced to external constraints imposed by the dynamics of the international system, the nonrationality of the nuclear world, and the weakness of Canada's influence vis-a-vis the superpowers. As well, the importance of not alienating the United States by too forceful a criticism was an essential consideration in the policy process due to the many issues of contention that already existed between Canada and the United States, and the vulnerability of Canada in economic terms to the negative reactions of its North American neighbour. When the Prime Minister did try to set policy and actively change the nuclear world via his personal peace initiative, the same factors and forces proved to be his undoing. In addition, the reactions on the international scene by some of the more powerful Western players indicate that Canada did not have the credibility to attempt such an influential role in the nuclear world. This response may have been prompted by Canada's minimal defence spending in recent years, or it may well have been the fate of a middlepower trying to exert influence in areas where the other nations were loathe to accept it. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2004-2005 / Ce mémoire de maîtrise explore la façon par laquelle les intellectuels et figures publiques au Québec français ont abordé l'histoire constitutionnelle canadienne entre 1980 et 1995 comme un chapitre du grand récit national des Québécois. Exploitant les outils de la postmodernité, de l'analyse des discours et de l'approche constructiviste de l'identité et de la nation, le mémoire explore les significations et la fonction narrative de Pierre Elliott Trudeau comme figure archétypale du traître à la nation québécoise à travers un vaste canon de littérature politique publiée entre 1987 et 1995. / This Master's Thesis aims to examine the way by which Franco-Québec intellectuals and public figures have approached Canadian constitutional history between 1980 and 1995 as a narrative of Québec nationhood. Using the post-modernist tool-kit of discourse analysis and the constructivist approach to identity and nationhood, the essay explores the meanings and narrative function of Pierre Elliott Trudeau as an archetypal traitor figure to the Québec nation throughout a large canon of narrative, political writings published between 1987 and 1995. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2014