The Federated State and International Relations: Quebec in Comparative Perspective

This article draws upon varied sources, including archives, governmental publications, and around 40 confidential interviews by the first named author in and around the Quebecgovernment. and Quebec is one of the most active and influential (from a soft power perspective) of such actors (British Council, 2018), maintaining relations with more than 80 international partners. Quebec is, with the Flemish region of Belgium, arguably the federated State with the world's most dense diplomatic network, having signed 828 agreements since the 1960s. It maintains its own ministry of Foreign and Francophone Affairs and boasts 37 permanent quasi-diplomatic representations abroad (Gouvernement of Qubec, 2019). Though formally only a province, Quebec has demonstrated a consistent interest in security and defense issues, particularly since the 9/11 terrorist SRYAHWA