The Shaping Of Peace

When Mackenzie King went to the San Francisco Conference he told the Commons that Canada had played its part in winning the war and it was now its duty to play a part in 'the shaping of peace.' This is a history and analysis of Canadian participation in the peace settlement and in the establishment of the United Nations and other international institutions, written by a man who was in the Department of External Affairs at the time. Although the book records the principal events, its emphasis is on the ideas and basic philosophies which Canada applied to the world scene in these years. The first of two volumes deals with postwar planning in Ottawa, the institutions which were created before the war ended, and Canada's part in settling the war, both in relief and reconstruction and in the peace treaties. It describes the shifting relations with Britain and the United States, including new defence and economic relationships, the working of the 'atomic triad,' and the postwar Commonwealth. It concludes with an extended discussion of Canada's part in the preparations for San Francisco and in the conference itself, with reference both to political and security issues and the economic and social functions involved. A second volume will describe Canada's attitudes as the cold war developed, the shifts in NATO, the experiences of the Korean War, and the evolution of middle-power diplomacy in the 1950s. John Holmes' well-informed account of 'the shaping of peace' is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of what has been regarded as Canada's most creative initiative in international affairs.

The establishment of the United Nations system at the conclusion of the Second World War was followed by a period of disillusion in the late 40s about the prospects for world order. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 there came a regrouping of forces and revised calculations of what was possible. The first volume of The Shaping of the Peace described Canadian attitudes and policies towards international institutions as the Second World War ended. This volume is concerned with the developments in the decade after the war, with the changing Canadian concepts as they were shaped by events and challenges. Although principal attention is paid to the organs of the United Nations, other themes such as the establishment of NATO, the progress of the new Commonwealth, and the changing concepts of the North American relationship are analysed as essential elements in the Canadian search for equilibrium. The author was himself involved in many of the activities described in these volumes; this is not a personal memoir, however, but a third-person account based on recollections tempered by research of the records.

This volume is concerned with the developments in the decade after the war, with the changing Canadian concepts as they were shaped by events and challenges

This book explores the prospects and limits of international intervention in building peace and creating a new state in an ethnically divided society and fragmented international order. The book offers a critical account of the international missions in Kosovo and traces the effectiveness of fluid forms of interventionism. It also explores the co-optation of peace by ethno-nationalist groups and explores how their contradictory perception of peace produced an ungovernable peace, which has been manifested with intractable ethnic antagonisms, state capture, and ignorance of the root causes, drivers, and consequences of the conflict. Under these conditions, prospects for emancipatory peace have not come from external actors, ethno-nationalist elite, and critical resistance movements, but from local and everyday acts of peace formation and agnostic forms for reconciliation. The book proposes an emancipatory agenda for peace in Kosovo embedded on post-ethnic politics and joint commitments to peace, a comprehensive agenda for reconciliation, people-centred security, and peace-enabling external assistance.

As the world faces a multitude of complexly-interwoven challenges, new values and new worldviews are emerging to change the ways in which human beings relate to each other, to our planet, and to all life on Earth. In today's globalized world, humanity is becoming inescapably aware that coexistence, cooperation, and respect for diversity are fundamental values by which all of us must live. These essential human values, which apply in all individual and societal relationships, are likewise intrinsic to a culture of peace: a way of living that will allow a harmonious, multifaceted, global civilization to blossom.Central to this volume is a belief that in an interdependent world, collective decision-making for the collective good is the most effective way to move forward. In order to respect the balance among cultures and nations, decisions that have a global impact must be taken multilaterally. No culture can achieve and maintain its international objectives by acting unilaterally; nor can any nation or cultural group claim to represent the whole of humanity.Shaping the Culture of Peace in a Multilateral World compiles prominent visionary articles from United Nations institutions and regional and other intergovernmental organizations, and highlights the contributions being made to the creation of a culture of peace. It aims to strengthen multilateral cooperation among intergovernmental organizations worldwide, and to facilitate the formation of a global network of multilateral mechanisms, which will provide collective and holistic responses to the peace and security challenges of the 21st century. Shaping the Culture of Peace in a Multilateral World is in itself a true example of multilateralism, and a publication treasure for people, who are active or interested in international diplomacy and international affairs.