Honduras and the new Canadian imperialism: re-assessing Canadian foreign policy mythologies

This dissertation argues that Canadian foreign policy has undergone a significant shift in the past two decades that coincides with the consolidation and internationalization of Canadian capital. That shift is manifest most dramatically in an escalation of the Canadian military presence abroad and the ends to which the country's increasingly militarized foreign policy are bent towards, particularly its cooperation with the machinery of U.S. imperialism to secure the conditions for profitable growth for Canadian capital invested in the Global South.

This project builds that argument by examining in detail the case study of Canadian state relations with Honduras, especially following the June 2009 coup d'etat, in light of significant investment of Canadian capital in that country. It demonstrates the extent to which Canada has supported a military dictatorship since 2009 that has engaged in widespread repression of dissent, abuse of human rights, and anti-democratic practices. It also highlights the fact that the social movement that has been targeted by the dictatorship was working towards political and economic reforms in Honduras that would have posed a threat to the profits of Canadian companies invested there.

As such, this project locates Canadian policy towards Honduras as fitting into a long history of colonialism in that country, with Canada taking a role previously held by Spain, Great Britain and the United States, that is undermining Honduran democracy and social development for the sake of Canadian companies' profits. It is suggested that this dynamic, examined in detail in the Honduran case, is reflective of the wider shift in Canadian political economy and foreign policy.