Karly Hurlock
Candidate, M.A. History
| Degrees: | BA Honours History & Political Science (University of Guelph) |
| Email: | karly.hurlock@carleton.ca |
Current Program: MA History (2017)
Supervisors: Prof. Norman Hillmer and Prof. Dominique Marshall
Academic Interests:
I am primarily interested in South Asian history, particularly with respect to India. My interests lie mostly in political history and modern topics (19th century onwards). I am also intrigued by how India has interacted with and related to Canada throughout her modern history as an independent nation. I like to focus on the real-world applications for historical knowledge, namely in regards to international relations and development aid.
Select Publications and Current Projects:
Hurlock, Karly. “Nehru’s Dream for a Modern India: An Assessment of Achievements and Failures in National Identity Formation.” The Mirror (March 2017).
Teaching Experience:
Canadian Political History (P. Litt), Winter 2018
Introduction to World History (B. Wright), Fall 2017
Description of Research:
Canada was heavily involved in India’s nuclear program from its infancy in the mid-1950s. Canada began contributing nuclear aid to India under the auspices of the Colombo plan, providing nuclear reactors, materials, and expertise to increase India’s nuclear energy faculties. All official agreements with Canada were entered into under specific guidelines stating that materials of nuclear aid were to be used by India “for peaceful purposes”. Despite signing these agreements, India never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968. In this context, on May 18, 1974 the Indian government successfully detonated its first nuclear explosive device in the Rajasthani desert-an event which would come to be called Pokhran-I. India maintained the test did not violate any of its aid treaties with Canada because the explosion was performed underground and was not intended to be adapted for military purposes.
Canadian reactions to the controversial Pokhran-I test were intense, given the spirit of camaraderie between the two nations. The Canadian government took a hard-lined approach to its foreign policy with India after the test, immediately suspending all non-food aid and officially terminating nuclear aid in May of 1976. In the Indo-Canadian relationship, the period following Pokhran-I has been characterized as one of “bilateral indifference”. Despite this quasi-estrangement, India was still the number one recipient of Canadian development assistance in the years following Pokhran-I. My research will be the first to analyze the reasons why Canada continued to contribute substantial amounts of development aid to India despite curtailing all other aspects of bilateral relations after Pokhran-I.