From Kinshasa To Kandahar

7: BOSNIA: From Failed State to Functioning State -- 8: SIX YEARS IN KANDAHAR: Understanding Canada's Multidimensional Effort to Builda Sustainable Afghan State -- 9: CANADA AND FRAGILESTATES IN THE AMERICAS -- 10: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN FRAGILE AND STABLE STATES: Dilemmas and Opportunities in South Sudan and Ghana -- 11: CONCLUSION -- CONTRIBUTORS -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- Back Cover

"Failed or fragile states are those that are unable or unwilling to provide a socio-political framework for citizens and meet their basic needs. They are a source of terrorism and international crime, as well as incubators of infectious disease, environmental degradation, and unregulated mass migration. Canada's engagement with countries such as the Congo, East Timor, Bosnia, and Afghanistan underlines the commitment of successive Canadian governments to addressing the threats posed to Western security by state fragility. From Kinshasa to Kandahar: Canada and Fragile States in Historical Perspective brings together leading Canadian historians and political scientists to explore Canada's historic relationship with fragile states. The collection spans the period from the 1960s to the present and covers a geographical range that stretches from the Middle East to Latin America to Southeast Asia. Authors embrace a variety of approaches and methodologies, including traditional archival historical research, postmodern textual analysis, oral history, and administrative studies to chronicle and explain Canada's engagement with fragile and failed states. This collection reflects the growing public interest in the issue of failed states, which are of increasing concern to Canadian policymakers and are making headlines on the world stage. It helps explain the historic forces that have shaped Canadian policy towards failed and fragile states, and provides a platform for a national discussion about Canada's future role addressing state fragility."--

This book is a history of Canada's role in the world as well as the impact of world events on Canada. Starting from the country's quasi-independence from Britain in 1867, its analysis moves through events in Canadian and global history to the present day. Looking at Canada's international relations from the perspective of elite actors and normal people alike, this study draws on original research and the latest work on Canadian international and transnational history to examine Canadians' involvement with a diverse mix of issues, from trade and aid, to war and peace, to human rights and migration. The book traces four inter-connected themes: independence and growing estrangement from Britain; the longstanding and ongoing tensions created by ever-closer relations with the United States; the huge movement of people from around the world into Canada; and the often overlooked but significant range of Canadian contacts with the non-Western world. With an emphasis on the reciprocal nature of Canada's involvement in world affairs, ultimately it is the first work to blend international and transnational approaches to the history of Canadian international relations.

Canada's statebuilding efforts in Afghanistan are not well documented. After fourteen years of significant investments in humanitarian causes, there are still questions about the impact of these projects and whether they delivered as promised or fell short. In Canada as Statebuilder? Laura Grant and Benjamin Zyla analyze over one hundred and thirty Canadian-led development projects in Afghanistan to illustrate that Canada has a limited capacity to effectively run humanitarian efforts in unstable, insecure, or inaccessible environments. Canadian or Canadian-sponsored development projects were ambitious and highly productive in terms of outputs in the short term, especially in the areas of security, women and gender, health, and education. However, when their outcomes and overall impact are assessed, the authors argue, Canada's record is less impressive. Their analysis contributes to evidence-based discussions of one of Canada's most important foreign policy activities in recent years. Reflecting on Canada's engagement in Afghanistan, Canada as Statebuilder? asks whether Canadian peacekeeping efforts in the region were ultimately worth the economic and human resources invested.

Based on a series of detailed case studies, this book presents the history of genocide in Africa within the specific context of African history, examining conflicts in countries such as Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Rwanda, and Sudan. Why has Africa been the subject of so many accusations related to genocide? Indeed, the number of such allegations related to Africa has increased dramatically over the past 15 years. Popular racist mythology might suggest that Africans belong to "tribes" that are inherently antagonistic towards each other and therefore engage in "tribal warfare" which cannot be rationally explained. This concept is wrong, as Timothy J. Stapleton explains in A History of Genocide in Africa: the many conflicts that have plagued post-colonial Africa have had very logical explanations, and very few of these instances of African warring can be said to have resulted in genocide. Authored by an expert historian of Africa, this book examines the history of six African countries—Namibia, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Nigeria—in which the language of genocide has been mobilized to describe episodes of tragic mass violence. It seeks to place genocide within the context of African history, acknowledging the few instances where the international legal term genocide has been applied appropriately to episodes of mass violence in African history and identifying the many other cases where it has not and instead the term has been used in a cynical manipulation to gain some political advantage. Readers will come to understand how, to a large extent, genocide accusations related to post-colonial Africa have often served to prolong wars and cause greater loss of life. The book also clarifies how in areas of Africa where genocides have actually occurred, there appears to have been a common history of the imposition of racial ideologies and hierarchies during the colonial era—which when combined with other factors such as the local geography, demography, religion, and/or economics, resulted in tragic and appalling outcomes.

Prior to the progressive development of the law of armed conflict heralded by the 1949 Geneva Conventions most particularly in relation to the concepts of international and non-international armed conflict-the customary doctrine on recognition of belligerency functioned for almost 200 years as the definitive legal scheme for differentiating internal conflict from "civil wars", in which the law of war as applicable between states applied de jure. Employing a legal historical approach, this book describes the thematic and practical fundamentals of the doctrine, and analyzes some of the more significant challenges to its application. In doing so, it assesses whether, how, and why the doctrine on recognition of belligerency was considered "fit for purpose," and seeks to inform debate as to its continuity and utility within the modern scheme of the law of armed conflict.

Offers a fresh interpretation of the social, cultural and ideological foundations that shaped the rapid expansion of the global NGO sector. Kevin O'Sullivan explains how and why NGOs became the primary conduits of popular compassion for the global poor and how this shaped the West's relationship with the post-colonial world.

With reference to global governance initiatives aimed at promoting ethical business practices, this volume offers a timely examination of Canada-Africa relations and natural resource governance.