The September 11 attacks as viewed from Quebec the small-nation code in geopolitical discourse.pdf

Political Geography 23 (2004) 765–795 The September 11 attacks as viewed from Quebec: the small-nation code in geopolitical discourse Paul C. Adams ? Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin, 210 W. 24th, Austin, TX 78712-1098, USA Abstract Public opinion polls from before and after 2001 in Quebec (Canada) reveal a marked shift during that year in attitudes about the US. Que′be′cois opinions of the US fell to the least favorable rating they had had in 15 years. A ‘‘fair weather friend’’ phenomenon based on fear of association with a target state does not fully explain Quebec’s reaction. Consideration of Quebec’s historical geographical situation as a small nation without a sovereign state suggests deeper reasons for the shift in perspective, which are con?rmed by quantitative and qualitative analysis of letters to the editor of daily newspapers. Que′be′cois letters about the attacks of September 11 were inclined to frame these attacks in terms of a battle between a large and powerful state and various small and weak nations, and subsequently to ?nd common cause with the small nations. This particular framing of the 9-11 events according to a ‘‘small-nation’’ code re?ected fundamental elements of the historical–geographical situation of Quebec as constructed in Que′be′cois discourses. The activation of a set of key associations from the national past to understand international relations in the present is an example of what Gertjan Dijkink calls the ‘‘national re?ex’’. The activation of the re?ex by an attack on the US points out how a hegemonic state can be vulnerable, paradoxically, as a result of its own supremacy. # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Quebec; United States; Terrorism; Public opinion; Discourse—geopolitical; Nationalism The US’s overall approval rating fell signi?cantly between the late 1990s and the early 2000s in opinion polls of the Canadian population. Furthermore, the point of transition appears to come in mid to l