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Navigating a New World: Canada's Global Future
Book by Axworthy, Lloyd
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
450 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 29, 2008
The author, Lloyd Axworthy, is a former deputy prime minister and former foreign affairs minister of Canada.
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Navigating A New World: Canada's Global Future
Lloyd Axworthy
Vintage Canada
$22 CDN (Softcover)
**** 1/2
The scale of the humanitarian tragedy in southern Asia following last month's massive earthquake and the devastating tsunami it triggered has awakened many around the world to a need for greater cooperation among countries to look after one another.
The notion that we are all one another's keepers and ultimately responsible for our collective safety is as old as humanity. It's something Canada expresses by funding humanitarian projects through the Canadian International Development Agency, and that Canadians in particular have expressed in their response to the disaster, donating more than $70 million to relief efforts, while Ottawa has pledged up to $80 million.
To put this into context: "In the past two weeks, as many people died from AIDS [in developing countries] as died in the tsunami. The money the government has pledged is the equivalent of what CIDA has spent on all humanitarian catastrophes this past year," David Morley, executive director of Doctors Without Borders Canada told Now magazine last week.
The implication is that more needs to be done on an ongoing basis to provide what is known in political and diplomatic circles as "human security," a subject former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy tackles, stating what Canada can -- and should -- do in his book Navigating A New World.
Axworthy skilfully explains issues and challenges facing Canada and the world, peppering his book with anecdotes and examples of situations he encountered during his tenure in Parliament -- all without the self-aggrandizement that often accompanies retired politicians' writings.
A substantial part of Axworthy's book deals with fallout from the U.S. attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which has focused attention on a narrow aspect of human security -- for better or worse. Since 9/11, "there is a constant trumping of rights in the name of counter-terrorism: the Geneva Convention on war prisoners is flouted, basic domestic rights ... are ignored, and allies in the battle against al Qaeda are given full licence to continue repression of their own populations," he writes.
But rather than filtering the world through 9/11-tinged glasses, he addresses the broader and complex interplay of factors that contribute to human security, including two chapters on the environment.
Prescribing specific reforms and a hands-on approach, Axworthy asserts that Canada must make its own decisions rather than letting the global agenda -- and Canada's path through it -- be dictated by others.
"Canada is only one community amongst many," he writes. "We have no pretensions about wielding a big military stick, nor do we have any whiff of manifest destiny. But we can offer ideas, skills, resources and a political commitment to working with others to find practical, peaceful solutions, and a sense of quiet optimism about the future. We can hold out hope for many around the world."
Saleem Khan
---
Navigating A New World: Canada's Global Future
Lloyd Axworthy
Vintage Canada
$22 CDN (Softcover)
**** 1/2
The scale of the humanitarian tragedy in southern Asia following last month's massive earthquake and the devastating tsunami it triggered has awakened many around the world to a need for greater cooperation among countries to look after one another.
The notion that we are all one another's keepers and ultimately responsible for our collective safety is as old as humanity. It's something Canada expresses by funding humanitarian projects through the Canadian International Development Agency, and that Canadians in particular have expressed in their response to the disaster, donating more than $70 million to relief efforts, while Ottawa has pledged up to $80 million.
To put this into context: "In the past two weeks, as many people died from AIDS [in developing countries] as died in the tsunami. The money the government has pledged is the equivalent of what CIDA has spent on all humanitarian catastrophes this past year," David Morley, executive director of Doctors Without Borders Canada told Now magazine last week.
The implication is that more needs to be done on an ongoing basis to provide what is known in political and diplomatic circles as "human security," a subject former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy tackles, stating what Canada can -- and should -- do in his book Navigating A New World.
Axworthy skilfully explains issues and challenges facing Canada and the world, peppering his book with anecdotes and examples of situations he encountered during his tenure in Parliament -- all without the self-aggrandizement that often accompanies retired politicians' writings.
A substantial part of Axworthy's book deals with fallout from the U.S. attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which has focused attention on a narrow aspect of human security -- for better or worse. Since 9/11, "there is a constant trumping of rights in the name of counter-terrorism: the Geneva Convention on war prisoners is flouted, basic domestic rights ... are ignored, and allies in the battle against al Qaeda are given full licence to continue repression of their own populations," he writes.
But rather than filtering the world through 9/11-tinged glasses, he addresses the broader and complex interplay of factors that contribute to human security, including two chapters on the environment.
Prescribing specific reforms and a hands-on approach, Axworthy asserts that Canada must make its own decisions rather than letting the global agenda -- and Canada's path through it -- be dictated by others.
"Canada is only one community amongst many," he writes. "We have no pretensions about wielding a big military stick, nor do we have any whiff of manifest destiny. But we can offer ideas, skills, resources and a political commitment to working with others to find practical, peaceful solutions, and a sense of quiet optimism about the future. We can hold out hope for many around the world."
Saleem Khan
January 2, 2013
My review, published in Metro, January 2005.
The author, Lloyd Axworthy, is a former deputy prime minister and former foreign affairs minister of Canada.
---
Navigating A New World: Canada's Global Future
Lloyd Axworthy
Vintage Canada
$22 CDN (Softcover)
**** 1/2
The scale of the humanitarian tragedy in southern Asia following last month's massive earthquake and the devastating tsunami it triggered has awakened many around the world to a need for greater cooperation among countries to look after one another.
The notion that we are all one another's keepers and ultimately responsible for our collective safety is as old as humanity. It's something Canada expresses by funding humanitarian projects through the Canadian International Development Agency, and that Canadians in particular have expressed in their response to the disaster, donating more than $70 million to relief efforts, while Ottawa has pledged up to $80 million.
To put this into context: "In the past two weeks, as many people died from AIDS [in developing countries] as died in the tsunami. The money the government has pledged is the equivalent of what CIDA has spent on all humanitarian catastrophes this past year," David Morley, executive director of Doctors Without Borders Canada told Now magazine last week.
The implication is that more needs to be done on an ongoing basis to provide what is known in political and diplomatic circles as "human security," a subject former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy tackles, stating what Canada can -- and should -- do in his book Navigating A New World.
Axworthy skilfully explains issues and challenges facing Canada and the world, peppering his book with anecdotes and examples of situations he encountered during his tenure in Parliament -- all without the self-aggrandizement that often accompanies retired politicians' writings.
A substantial part of Axworthy's book deals with fallout from the U.S. attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which has focused attention on a narrow aspect of human security -- for better or worse. Since 9/11, "there is a constant trumping of rights in the name of counter-terrorism: the Geneva Convention on war prisoners is flouted, basic domestic rights ... are ignored, and allies in the battle against al Qaeda are given full licence to continue repression of their own populations," he writes.
But rather than filtering the world through 9/11-tinged glasses, he addresses the broader and complex interplay of factors that contribute to human security, including two chapters on the environment.
Prescribing specific reforms and a hands-on approach, Axworthy asserts that Canada must make its own decisions rather than letting the global agenda -- and Canada's path through it -- be dictated by others.
"Canada is only one community amongst many," he writes. "We have no pretensions about wielding a big military stick, nor do we have any whiff of manifest destiny. But we can offer ideas, skills, resources and a political commitment to working with others to find practical, peaceful solutions, and a sense of quiet optimism about the future. We can hold out hope for many around the world."
Saleem Khan
The author, Lloyd Axworthy, is a former deputy prime minister and former foreign affairs minister of Canada.
---
Navigating A New World: Canada's Global Future
Lloyd Axworthy
Vintage Canada
$22 CDN (Softcover)
**** 1/2
The scale of the humanitarian tragedy in southern Asia following last month's massive earthquake and the devastating tsunami it triggered has awakened many around the world to a need for greater cooperation among countries to look after one another.
The notion that we are all one another's keepers and ultimately responsible for our collective safety is as old as humanity. It's something Canada expresses by funding humanitarian projects through the Canadian International Development Agency, and that Canadians in particular have expressed in their response to the disaster, donating more than $70 million to relief efforts, while Ottawa has pledged up to $80 million.
To put this into context: "In the past two weeks, as many people died from AIDS [in developing countries] as died in the tsunami. The money the government has pledged is the equivalent of what CIDA has spent on all humanitarian catastrophes this past year," David Morley, executive director of Doctors Without Borders Canada told Now magazine last week.
The implication is that more needs to be done on an ongoing basis to provide what is known in political and diplomatic circles as "human security," a subject former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy tackles, stating what Canada can -- and should -- do in his book Navigating A New World.
Axworthy skilfully explains issues and challenges facing Canada and the world, peppering his book with anecdotes and examples of situations he encountered during his tenure in Parliament -- all without the self-aggrandizement that often accompanies retired politicians' writings.
A substantial part of Axworthy's book deals with fallout from the U.S. attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which has focused attention on a narrow aspect of human security -- for better or worse. Since 9/11, "there is a constant trumping of rights in the name of counter-terrorism: the Geneva Convention on war prisoners is flouted, basic domestic rights ... are ignored, and allies in the battle against al Qaeda are given full licence to continue repression of their own populations," he writes.
But rather than filtering the world through 9/11-tinged glasses, he addresses the broader and complex interplay of factors that contribute to human security, including two chapters on the environment.
Prescribing specific reforms and a hands-on approach, Axworthy asserts that Canada must make its own decisions rather than letting the global agenda -- and Canada's path through it -- be dictated by others.
"Canada is only one community amongst many," he writes. "We have no pretensions about wielding a big military stick, nor do we have any whiff of manifest destiny. But we can offer ideas, skills, resources and a political commitment to working with others to find practical, peaceful solutions, and a sense of quiet optimism about the future. We can hold out hope for many around the world."
Saleem Khan
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews