During the Harper years (2006–2015), Canada significantly reduced the training, preparation, and deployment of military personnel for United Nations (UN) peacekeeping. Now, despite the Trudeau government’s pledge to lead an international peacekeeping training effort, Canada’s capabilities have increased only marginally. A survey of the curricula in the country’s training institutions shows that the military provides less than a quarter of the peacekeeping training activities that it provided in 2005. The primary cause of these reductions was the central focus on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Afghanistan operation and several lingering myths about peacekeeping, common to many Western militaries. As the Trudeau government has committed to reengaging Canada in UN operations, these misperceptions must be addressed, and a renewed training and education initiative is necessary. This paper describes the challenges of modern peace operations, addresses the limiting myths surrounding peacekeeping training, and makes recommendations so that military personnel in Canada and other nations can once again be prepared for peace.

AcknowledgementsFirst and foremost, I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my parents, whose example inspired me to start a doctorate in the first place and without whose support I would not have been able to complete this thesis. To my mother, who read the first draft and the last draft, and who provided invaluable advice and suggestions every step of the way. To my father, who has been an academic and intellectual role model throughout my life, and provides a constant reminder to me to never stop being curious. To my sister, who has been a source both of academic inspiration and commiseration, and who helped me see the light at the end of the Ph.D.tunnel when things seemed dark. To my supervisors, Dr. Claire Turenne-Sjolander and Dr. Miguel de Larrinaga, who supported my ideas from the start and who helped me navigate my way to a final draft. To my friend Doug, who has always been there to listen to my triumphs and defeats, and who has always been willing to talk about the big questions with me. To all my friends, who I have relied on time and again to replenish my energy and regain my perspective.To my wife, who helped me reach the end of this thesis in ways big and small, supporting me with her food, her advice, her love, and her very existence. And to my dog Lyla, who did her best to prevent me from writing this thesis while at the same time reminding me that sometimes it's important to stop writing, get up, and go for a walk.iii Tables Table 1: Summary of the three generations of strategic culture Table 2: Strategic norms concerning the legitimate ends and means of defence policy Table 3: The Peacekeeping Sweet Spot Table 4: Breakdown of scalable strategic norms Table 5: Member States with more than 1,000 peacekeeping troops, 1990-2015 Table 6 With 16 ongoing peacekeeping operations currently deploying almost 100,000 troops, United Nations peacekeeping is the largest single source of multilateral military intervention in conflict zones. Because UN peacekeeping is entirely dependent on voluntary contributions from Member States, there a pressing need to better understand why nations contribute peacekeeping troops in the first place. Individual national rationales for peacekeeping contribution vary significantly, and incentives may include regional hegemonic aspirations, positive economic benefits from peacekeeping, desiring a seat at the Security Council, or a combination of any number of incentives. This has made it difficult to provide a generalized explanation about why states provide peacekeepers. This thesis proposes a model for understanding the peacekeeping contribution issue under the lens of strategic culture. The strategic culture approach focuses on elite beliefs about the objectives of the use of force, with national factors such a geography, history, domestic politics, and bureaucracy forming into cohesive and competing norms about the purpose of the military. Drawing on the fourth generation of strategic culture literature, this dissertation argues that strategic culture serves as an...