The Unequal Dialogue : Canadian Civil-Military Relations, 1950–2025

The Unequal Dialogue reveals how civil-military relations have grown increasingly fraught since the Second World War, as Canadian civil and military society have diverged in opinion on the purpose and membership of the armed forces.

Over the last six decades, government agencies and policy makers – civilians, in other words – have sought to make the armed forces of a small state like Canada relevant in a thermonuclear world, and to ensure that military membership reflects the country's population. Periodic crises over the role and especially the combat capability of the armed forces, as well as over the inclusion of francophones, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals, have produced a cycle of civilian direction, military resistance, and civilian intervention to enforce change.

In The Unequal Dialogue, Peter Kasurak proposes two fundamental changes to break this deadlock. Political leadership must become more actively and continuously involved in shaping the military, while the military itself must rethink the profession of arms to accord with civil society.