National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy by Canada and New Zealand

305 Pages·2016·2.06 MB·English

by  Lyndon Burford

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National Identity and
Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy
by Canada and New Zealand

Lyndon Burford

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Politics and International Relations.

The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
September 2016
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Lyndon Burford National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy

Abstract
Nuclear disarmament dynamics are under-studied and under-theorised. Constructivists hold that
identities determine interests and thus, policy preferences, but there has been virtually no
investigation of national identity as a driver for nuclear disarmament policy. This thesis investigates
the drivers of nuclear disarmament advocacy by Canada and New Zealand, focusing on the
activation of anti-nuclear weapon national identities as a key explanatory factor. The thesis presents
four comparative case studies—two each from Canada and New Zealand. Each case examines the
dominant nuclear weapon-related national identity tropes of three constituencies—senior
government ministers, bureaucrats and the public—and traces the processes through which various
actors seek to have these identities expressed in policy. Since identities inform preferences but do
not necessarily determine policy, the case studies also consider how contextual factors—alliance
commitments, normative context, civil society activity and great power relations—affect the
expression of anti-nuclear weapon identities.
Canada’s decision not to acquire nuclear weapons, despite being able to, is a touchstone for a
popular, pro-disarmament ‘peacemaker’ identity. However, security policymakers almost always
prioritise the identity of Canada as a strong US ally and thus, supporter of nuclear deterrence. The
Canadian cases represent attempts by two prominent norm entrepreneurs to break this pattern—
the first, during a Cold War crisis in superpower relations, and the second, during the post-Cold War
superpower rapprochement. In both cases, a ‘disarmament/deterrence conundrum’ was evident;
that is, the activation of anti-nuclear weapon identities produced nuclear disarmament advocacy,
but it was significantly constrained by conflicting, alliance-based identities and the related norms of
solidarity and nuclear deterrence.
In New Zealand, public and political norm entrepreneurship generated early nuclear disarmament
advocacy, but again, this was bounded by alliance-based nuclear deterrence norms. During political
upheaval in the 1980s, an identity crisis and civil society activism created an internalised ‘New
Zealand nuclear taboo’ in the public, which was institutionalised in law. This delegitimised
acquiescence to nuclear deterrence, including for alliance imperatives. Activation of internalised
public anti-nuclear sentiment produced comprehensive nuclear disarmament advocacy from the
government—initially for instrumental reasons, but later, due to bureaucratic socialisation towards
anti-nuclear identities. The New Zealand cases support the hypothesis that norm institutionalisation
facilitates identity transformation in officials through the iterative practice of norms.
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Lyndon Burford National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy
Acknowledgements
Funding support for this thesis was gratefully received from the University of Auckland, the Peace
and Disarmament Education Trust, Universitas 21 and the International Council for Canadian
Studies. Thank you to all the experts who agreed to be interviewed for this research, or who shared
their insights with me along the way.
For generously hosting me as a visiting researcher, and for their warm welcome and valuable
assistance with fieldwork, I offer my sincere thanks to Professor Brian Job at the University of British
Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, and to Professor T.V. Paul of McGill University, Montreal. Thanks also
to Sally Reay at UBC for her kind assistance with the logistics of fieldwork in Vancouver.
I also want to sincerely thank the many colleagues and friends who have read and commented on
various draft chapters and sketches along the way. Thank you Kate Dewes, Tanya Ogilvie-White, Rob
Green, Treasa Dunworth, Laura Stanley, Benoit Pelopidas, Togzhan Kassenova, Rod Alley, Nicholas
Ross Smith, Mark Boyd, Jacqui True and Felicity Hill. I know there have been so many more people
that have helped, so I apologise to anyone that I have missed.
Warm thanks also to my supervisors, Anita Lacey, Chris Wilson and Maria Rublee, for their support,
wise council and patience with my many meanderings.
Finally, thanks to all my friends and family for their support and encouragement in the research
process. And especially, thank you Sal, for showing me the patience of an angel and making this
whole thing a lot easier.
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Lyndon Burford National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy
Contents
Abstract ....................................................................................................................... iii
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... iv
Contents ....................................................................................................................... v
Glossary ...................................................................................................................... vii
1. What causes nuclear disarmament advocacy? ............................................................ 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1
Nuclear deterrence in theory and practice ................................................................... 7
Defining nuclear disarmament advocacy .................................................................... 13
The puzzle of nuclear disarmament advocacy ............................................................ 17
The need for nuclear disarmament theorisation ........................................................ 23
Existing literature / theoretical contribution .............................................................. 26
Key findings .................................................................................................................. 28
Thesis outline ............................................................................................................... 32
2. Constructivism: the power of ideas, not the idea of power ....................................... 34
Constructivism and nuclear weapons ......................................................................... 34
Contextual factors ....................................................................................................... 54
Summary of causal chain ............................................................................................. 60
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 61
3. Methodology: tracing the policy process .................................................................. 63
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 63
Research design ........................................................................................................... 64
Case selection method ................................................................................................ 65
Case study countries .................................................................................................... 68
Specific cases selected ................................................................................................. 71
Data generation and analysis ...................................................................................... 73
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 76
4. Nuclear Weapons in Canadian and New Zealand History .......................................... 78
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 78
Canada in the world..................................................................................................... 79
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Lyndon Burford National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy
New Zealand in the world ........................................................................................... 91
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 105
5. Opposing nuclear testing, 1972-74 ......................................................................... 107
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 107
National identities ..................................................................................................... 109
Nuclear disarmament advocacy ................................................................................ 113
Theoretical implications ............................................................................................ 130
6. The Trudeau peace initiative, 1983-84 .................................................................... 135
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 135
National identities ..................................................................................................... 137
Nuclear disarmament advocacy ................................................................................ 141
Theoretical implications ............................................................................................ 156
7. The obligation to eliminate nuclear weapons, 1995-2000 ....................................... 164
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 164
National identities ..................................................................................................... 165
Nuclear disarmament advocacy ................................................................................ 171
Theoretical implications ............................................................................................ 187
8. Challenging NATO nuclear strategy, 1997-99 .......................................................... 195
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 195
National identities ..................................................................................................... 197
Nuclear disarmament advocacy ................................................................................ 201
Theoretical implications ............................................................................................ 214
9. The causes of nuclear disarmament advocacy ........................................................ 219
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 219
The influence of identity on nuclear disarmament advocacy ....................................... 221
The influence of context on nuclear disarmament advocacy ....................................... 229
The disarmament/deterrence conundrum ............................................................... 234
Future research ......................................................................................................... 238
Concluding thoughts .................................................................................................. 247
List of interviewees ................................................................................................... 251
Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 253
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Lyndon Burford National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy
Glossary
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
CCD Conference of the Committee on Disarmament
CD Conference on Disarmament
CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
DFAIT Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Canada)
DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)
DSC Disarmament & Security Centre (New Zealand)
EEC European Economic Community
EU European Union
ICAN International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
ICC International Criminal Court
ICJ International Court of Justice
IR International Relations
MFAT Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand)
MP Member of Parliament
MPI Middle Powers Initiative
NAC New Agenda Coalition
NAM Non-Aligned Movement
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NCCD National Consultative Committee on Disarmament (New Zealand)
NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command
NWFZ Nuclear weapon free zone
NZ New Zealand
NZHR New Zealand House of Representatives
NZIIA New Zealand Institute for International Affairs
NZPD New Zealand Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
OIA Official Information Act (New Zealand)
PACDAC Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (New Zealand)
PTBT Partial Test Ban Treaty
SCFAIT Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Canadian
Parliament)
SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation
UN United Nations
UNDC United Nations Disarmament Commission
UNGA United Nations General Assembly
UNSSOD United Nations Special Session on Disarmament
WCP World Court Project
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Lyndon Burford National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy
1
What causes nuclear disarmament advocacy?

What I hoped to do, not by offering answers for others but by describing what New Zealand
had done, was to make the point that alternatives were possible. What we needed was the
political will to look for them.
~ Former New Zealand prime minister, David Lange1

I was not so naive as to think we could decisively, or even importantly, influence the policies
of the Great Powers, but I hoped that we could influence the environment in which they
were pursued.
~ Former Canadian prime minister, Lester Pearson2

Introduction
The political dynamics of nuclear disarmament are under-studied and under-theorised. In particular,
there is little theoretically-informed analysis of the policies, perspectives or role of non-nuclear
weapon states regarding nuclear disarmament.3 In policy terms, this is a significant omission since
non-nuclear weapon states will necessarily play an important role in making any disarmament
agreement possible, as the West’s fixation with the Iranian nuclear programme attests. This thesis
addresses the lack of scholarly engagement with the nuclear disarmament-related experiences of
non-nuclear weapon states by examining one specific type of behaviour: nuclear disarmament

1 David Lange, Nuclear Free: The New Zealand Way (Auckland: Penguin, 1990), 118.
2 Pearson, Memoirs Vol. 2, p. 35, cited in Joseph Levitt, Pearson and Canada’s Role in Nuclear Disarmament
and Arms Control Negotiations, 1945-1957 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993), 281.
3 Scott D Sagan, “Shared Responsibilities for Nuclear Disarmament,” Daedalus 138, no. 4 (2009): 162.
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Lyndon Burford National Identity and Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy
advocacy. The core research question of the thesis is what causes nuclear disarmament advocacy
by democratic, non-nuclear weapon states?
To answer this question, the thesis presents four theoretically-informed, comparative case
studies—two each from Canada and New Zealand—that draw on the insights of International
Relations (IR) constructivism. A key characteristic of constructivist scholarship is its focus on how
interactions between material factors and non-material factors, such as actors’ beliefs and
identities, and the related norms of appropriate behaviour, drive policy outcomes.4 This research
adopts a commonly-cited definition of a norm, that being ‘a standard of appropriate behaviour for
actors with a given identity.’5 As this definition makes clear, constructivists see an important link
between norms and identities: norms only apply to actors if they identify with a group which is
committed to the prescribed standard of behaviour. In this sense, norms and identities are
interdependent and mutually constitutive.6 Both are also socially constructed, historically
contingent and often, contested.7
The notion that national identities shape national interests and therefore, policy preferences, is
fundamental to constructivist IR theories.8 Given the centrality of this causal chain to constructivist
thinking, it is striking that the constructivist literature most relevant to nuclear disarmament has
largely ignored the issue of identity.9 This thesis is one of only a handful of works, in fact, to examine

4 For foundational examples of constructivist thinking, see, Alexander Wendt, “Anarchy Is What States Make
of It,” International Organization 46, no. 2 (1992): 391–425; John G Ruggie, “International Regimes,
Transactions, and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order,” International
Organization 36, no. 2 (1982): 379–415.
5 Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change,” International
Organisation 52, no. 4 (1998): 891. Jepperson, Wendt, and Katzenstein propose a similar definition,
suggesting norms are ‘collective expectations about proper behaviour for a given identity.’ Ronald L
Jepperson, Alexander Wendt, and Peter J Katzenstein, “Norms, Identity and Culture in National Security,”
in The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics, ed. Peter J Katzenstein (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 54.
6 Wendt, “Anarchy Is What States Make of It,” 399.
7 Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, “Taking Stock: The Constructivist Research Program in
International Relations and Comparative Politics,” Annual Review of Political Science 4, no. 1 (2001): 398;
Richard Devetak and Jacqui True, “Diplomatic Divergence in the Antipodes: Globalisation, Foreign Policy
and State Identity in Australia and New Zealand,” Australian Journal of Political Science 41, no. 2 (2006):
241–56.
8 See, for example, Jutta Weldes, Constructing National Interests: The United States and the Cuban Missile
Crisis (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999).
9 For examples of this trend, see, Erika Simpson, NATO and the Bomb: Canadian Defenders Confront Critics
(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001); Marianne Hanson, “Advancing Disarmament in the
Face of Great Power Reluctance: The Canadian Contribution” (Vancouver: Institute of International
Relations, University of British Columbia, June 2001); Marianne Hanson, “Australia and Nuclear Arms
2