Self-determination and Settler Colonial Incoherence in the Liberal International Era

Throughout the history of the United Nations, there has always been tension between its liberal ideas of self-determination and sovereignty, especially during the process of decolonization and changes in its membership, as well as in its response to protracted conflicts and ongoing colonial occupations. As a middle power, Canada has been consistently engaged with the UN and has been a vocal proponent of the political ideology at its heart: liberal internationalism. As a settler colonial power, Canada, too, has a variety of tensions in its policies around self-determination and sovereignty, both domestically and internationally. This paper traces the ideational history of how Canada has operationalized the concept of self-determination by examining Canada's voting patterns on Palestinian self-determination. We read the pattern in the context of broader concepts and logics of empire and settler colonialism, drawing on the concept of incoherence to make sense of both the continuity and change in Canada's treatment of self-determination, both in relation to Palestinian statehood and as a viable liberal principle in the current moment of uncertainty in international order.