Making Sense of the Arctic: U.S.-Canadian Foreign and Defense Relations and the Establishment of JAWS and the DEW Line, 1944-1957

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dc.contributor.advisorRandall, Stephen J.
dc.contributor.authorWoitkowitz, John
dc.contributor.committeememberHuebert, Robert N.
dc.contributor.committeememberDolata, Petra
dc.contributor.committeememberTowers, Frank
dc.contributor.committeememberFerris, John Robert
dc.contributor.committeememberLackenbauer, P. Whitney
dc.contributor.committeememberKeeley, James F.
dc.date2018-06
dc.date.accessioned2018-04-19T17:28:09Z
dc.date.available2018-04-19T17:28:09Z
dc.date.issued2018-04-10
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation examines the diplomatic history of U.S.-Canadian foreign and defense relations in the Arctic from 1944 to 1957. World War II and the emerging Cold War transformed the Northern and Arctic regions of North America from a peripheral region of international politics to a frontline of military planning. The Cold War confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, the advent of the nuclear age, and the advancements in the field of long-range aviation fixed foreign policy and continental defense planners’ attention on Northern and Arctic Canada, devising plans for the establishment of the Joint Arctic Weather Stations (JAWS) in 1947 and the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in 1955. This study analyzes the origins, negotiations, and the construction of these Northern defense projects at the intersection of an emerging Cold War security crisis, an evolving legal landscape for Arctic sovereignty, and conceptions of the Arctic as a symbolic marker in the construction of Northern nationalisms. Existing studies of the JAWS and DEW Line talks by historians Shelagh Grant, Whitney Lackenbauer, Alexander Herd, and Peter Kikkert discuss these defense projects within the framework of sovereignty and security. More recent studies have adopted epistemological perspectives, exploring the construction of Arctic knowledge. This dissertation builds on this literature and contributes an analysis of the ideas and perceptions that guided key decision makers in Ottawa and Washington during the bilateral talks. By exploring unpublished personal papers and re-examining the ministerial records of Canada and the United States with a new research focus, this thesis explores how global and national conceptions of Arctic defense interacted with bureaucratic cultures within the Canadian and American foreign and defense establishments. Moreover, this study sheds new light on the relationship between non-governmental actors such as explorers, artists, novelists, and scientists and the realm of diplomacy and foreign policy-making. At the intersection of security, sovereignty, and nationalism, this dissertation, therefore, provides a fresh perspective on the way foreign and defense officials in Ottawa and Washington made sense of a rapidly changing international security situation and managed a yet nascent defense relationship in Northern and Arctic Canada.en_US
dc.identifier.citationWoitkowitz, J. (2018). Making Sense of the Arctic: U.S.-Canadian Foreign and Defense Relations and the Establishment of JAWS and the DEW Line, 1944-1957 (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31798en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/31798
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/106511
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyArts
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectArctic
dc.subjectJAWS
dc.subjectDEW Line
dc.subjectSovereignty
dc.subjectSecurity
dc.subjectCold War
dc.subjectSecond World War
dc.subjectNorthern history
dc.subject.classificationAnthropology--Culturalen_US
dc.subject.classificationCanadian Studiesen_US
dc.subject.classificationEconomics--Historyen_US
dc.subject.classificationHistory--Modernen_US
dc.subject.classificationHistory--Canadianen_US
dc.subject.classificationHistory--United Statesen_US
dc.subject.classificationMilitary Studiesen_US
dc.subject.classificationPolitical Science--International Law and Relationsen_US
dc.titleMaking Sense of the Arctic: U.S.-Canadian Foreign and Defense Relations and the Establishment of JAWS and the DEW Line, 1944-1957
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineHistory
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
ucalgary.thesis.checklistI confirm that I have submitted all of the required forms to Faculty of Graduate Studies.en_US
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