In one of the most dramatic shifts in recent memory, the last thirty years have seen a shift from the characterization of liberal democracy as the only surviving ideology at the “end of history,” to claims that it is facing calamitous threats like never before.
The emergence of nationalist populist movements across the globe-what I have called the rise of post-modern conservatism elsewhere—has been met with claims by major intellectuals that liberalism has “failed” and needs to be replaced by other political forms such as “conservative democracy.” Despite its relative tranquility, Canada has not been immune to these seismic developments.
Prime Minister Trudeau, widely admired and loathed in equal measure, has become something of an icon for those wishing to defend the liberal order and its affiliated institutions and norms: multiculturalism, internationalism, and of course, post-nationalism.
This last norm refers of course to Trudeau’s (in)famous comment that Canada is the world’s first “post-national” state and that there “is no core [Canadian] identity.”
Canada’s Strange National Identity
This Trudeauism infuriated numerous conservative critics, who quickly responded by claiming that Canada does have a national identity, and formulating various theories on just what that happens to be.
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