Martialling Peace: How the Peacekeeping Myth Legitimises Warfare

by Nicole Wegner

This is a not a book about peacekeeping practices. This is a book about storytelling, fantasies, and the ways that people connect emotionally to myths about peacekeeping. The celebration of peacekeeping as a legitimate and desirable use of military force is expressed through the unproblematized acceptance of militarism. Introducing a novel framework―martial peace―the book offers an in-depth examination of the Canadian Armed Forces missions to Afghanistan and the use of police violence against Indigenous protests in Canada as case examples where military violence has been justified in the name of peace. It critically investigates the peacekeeper myth and challenges the academic, government, and popular beliefs that martial violence is required to sustain peace.

160 pages, Hardcover

Published June 9, 2023