Description

From Peacekeeping to Peacemaking provides the first extensive examination of Canada's response to the recent disintegration of the Federal State of Yugoslavia. Nicholas Gammer reflects on how Canadian foreign policy was made and on the role of the prime minister in this decisionmaking, showing that Brian Mulroney, closely supported by his secretary of state for external affairs, used his office to seize the opportunity to redefine international standards on humanitarian intervention and initiate a shift in Canadian foreign policy. Gammer shows that Mulroney took considerable risks in doing this, ignoring the conventional wisdom that it was folly to become involved in the age-old ethnic conflicts of the former Yugoslavia.

Given the support of the Mulroney government, many of the Canadian units under the United Nations in Yugoslavia were willing to bend the United Nations' rules of engagement when confronting Muslim, Serb, and Croat forces, establishing Srebrenica as a Muslim safe haven and defending it against Serb attacks. The Chretien government, however, assumed a more cautious policy.

Gammer shows how understanding the government's role in this particular crisis contributes to our understanding of the role that political leadership plays in shaping Canadian foreign policy in general, as well as advancing our knowledge of the broader theoretical debates surrounding the legitimacy and effectiveness of humanitarian intervention in the internal affairs of state.