Distinguished Speaker Series: "Canada and the United States: So Close, Yet So Different"

About the Program: Canada and the United States: So Close, Yet So Different

Canada and the United States share much in common, enjoy strong cultural and economic ties, and have the longest un-militarized border in the world. But the differences between these two democracies are striking. It has been noted that while America’s revolutionary motto was “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” Canada was founded on the principles of “Peace, Order, and Good Government.” The United States is more violent than Canada and it always has been, while there is much greater acceptance of a larger role for government in the economy and society in Canada. Join Dr. Pierre Atlas, a political scientist who studies the US and Canada, in a conversation about these two North American neighbors with Dr. Kenneth Holland, a political scientist and former president of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States.

About the Speakers

Dr. Pierre M. Atlas is a Senior Lecturer at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Prior to joining IUPUI last semester, Pierre was a Professor of Political Science at Marian University, where, for seventeen years, he also served as the Founding Director of The Richard G. Lugar Franciscan Center for Global Studies.

Pierre’s ties to Canada are both personal and professional. A native of Texas who grew up in California, he did his undergraduate studies in political science and history at the University of Toronto. His wife is from Montreal and his children are dual US-Canadian citizens. A comparative political scientist who devoted much of his academic career to studying and writing about the Middle East, in recent years Pierre has switched his primary scholarly focus to comparing the United States and Canada. His academic research and publications have examined how the legacy of the North American frontier helps to explain contemporary political differences between the U.S. and Canada on issues such as Indigenous policy, the role of government, and gun laws and gun culture. He is the Canadian Studies section coordinator for the Western Social Science Association and will present a paper on gun culture and the politics of gun control in Canada and the United States at the WSSA’s annual conference in Denver later this spring.

Pierre received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University and his M.A. from the University of Arizona, both in political science. He is a member of our ICWA board of directors, writes a monthly opinion column for the Indianapolis Business Journal, and is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for the Study of the Middle East at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Kenneth Holland, PhD

Dr. Kenneth Holland is President Emeritus of the American University of Afghanistan. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and M.A. in Government from the University of Virginia. He is a Past President of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States and World Affairs Council of Memphis.  He is a scholar of Canadian foreign policy and has published articles in Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, International Journal:  Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis, and American Review of Canadian Studies.  He is the author of several books on Canada, including Canadian-United States Engagement in Afghanistan:  An Analysis of the “Whole of Government” Approach; Federalism and the Environment: Environmental Policymaking in Australia, Canada, and the United States; and The Impact of the North American Free-Trade Agreement on Federal Relations in Australia, Canada, and the United States.  He is currently finishing a book to be published by Palgrave Macmillan entitled Canada’s Dilemma:  Responding to the Competing Indo-Pacific Visions of China and the United States.  Ken first became involved with Canada in 1980 when he joined the Canadian studies program at the University of Vermont.  He has served as a consultant to the governments of both Canada and Quebec regarding implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), was a Visiting Professor at the University of Calgary, advised Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney during the Gulf War, and worked closely with the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, including the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kandahar.