The Future of Canada's Water - UBC Press

HISTORY
MILITARY HISTORY
The Middle Power Project
Canada and the Founding of the
United Nations
Adam Chapnick
“Here Is Hell”
Canada’s Engagement in Somalia
Grant Dawson
NOVEMBER 2006
224 pages, est., 6 x 9”
1 map, 1 table, 25 b/w illustrations
0-7748-1297-4 / 978-0-7748-1297-9
hc $85.00
Shortlisted for the 2005 Dafoe Book Prize by
the John Wesley Dafoe Foundation.
The Middle Power Project describes a defining
period of Canadian and international history.
During the Second World War, Canada
transformed itself from British dominion to
self-proclaimed middle power. It became an
active, enthusiastic, and idealistic participant in
the creation of one of the longest lasting global
institutions of recent times -- the United Nations.
This was, in many historians’ opinions, the
beginning of a golden age in Canadian diplomacy.
Chapnick suggests that the golden age may
not have been so lustrous. During the UN
negotiations, Canadian policymakers were
more cautious than idealistic. The civil service
was inexperienced and often internally divided.
Canada’s significant contributions were generally
limited to the much neglected economic and
social fields. Nevertheless, creating the UN
changed what it meant to be Canadian. From
the establishment of the UN onwards, Canadians
would see themselves as leading internationalists.
Based on materials not previously available to
Canadian scholars, The Middle Power Project
presents a critical reassessment of the traditional
and widely accepted account of Canada’s role and
interests in the formation of the UN. It will be be
read carefully by historians and political scientists,
and will be appreciated by general readers with an
interest in Canadian and international history.
Adam Chapnick is a Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow
and Lecturer in History at Carleton University.
2005, 224 pages, 6 x 9”
0-7748-1247-8 / 978-0-7748-1247-4 hc $85.00
0-7748-1248-6 / 978-0-7748-1248-1 pb $29.95
For many Canadians, the actions of Canada’s
peacekeeping mission to Somalia in the early
1990s remains a stain on our reputation as one
of the world’s most respected peacekeeping
nations. “Here is Hell” is a deft investigation into
the broader context of that deployment.
In analyzing the political, diplomatic, and military
decision making that surrounded the Somalia
mission, Dawson avoids a narrow concentration
on the alarming incidents involving Canadian
troops that have been the prime concern of
other writings. Rather, Dawson focuses on the
factors influencing the Mulroney government’s
initial disinterest and subsequent participation
in deploying troops in support of the UN and US
peace operations. Drawing on interviews with
key participants, along with documents made
available during the Somalia Inquiry and under
the Access to Information Act, this study shows
how media pressure, government optimism in the
UN, and Canada’s multilateral and peacekeeping
traditions all played a role in determining the level,
length, and tenor of Canada’s engagement in
Somalia.
One of the first scholarly examinations of the
Somalia operation, “Here Is Hell” will interest
military and Canadian historians, policy analysts,
political scientists, and those concerned with
Canadian foreign, defence, and diplomatic history.
It will undoubtedly play a seminal role in informing
further scholarly debate on this important period
in Canada’s military and diplomatic past.
Grant Dawson is a Research Fellow
at the Centre for Security and Defence
Studies at Carleton University.
» Also available
Collective Insecurity
The Liberian Crisis, Unilateralism, and Global Order
Ikechi Mgbeoji
2003, 200 pages, 6 x 9”
0-7748-1037-8 / 978-0-7748-1037-1 paper $24.95
www.ubcpress.ca / 1 877 864 8477 21