Former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Jean Chretien of the
Liberals, Lloyd Axworthy outlines his vision for International
Relations and what Canada's role can and should be in the New World
Order. With his experience as international statesman, Axworthy is
well positioned to write such a book imparting his political wisdom
for future hopefuls.
The book is written as part memoir, part commentary and part
manifesto. Axworthy writes about the experiences as a college
student in Winnipeg and Princeton, the debates and discussions that
would shape the man who he was to become. As a reader, one can't
help but see the youthful idealism and perhaps naivety which never
left Axworthy even through his public life. The climax of his
personal experiences was the culmination of meetings between
governments and NGOs that resulted in the landmark Ottawa Treaty to
ban the use of landmines of which the NGO, International Campaign
to Ban Landmines, won the Nobel Peace Prize for.
As for Axworthy's vision for the future, predictably, he campaigns
for a greater role for the UN, multi-lateralism and the use of
soft-power to bring about democratic progress. According to
Axworthy, Canada with its historical role as peace makers should
lead the way in this new liberal interationalist world. In many
ways, Axworthy could be labeled a Wilsonian. Unlike other
reviewers, I found Axworthy to be quite bi-partisan in his writing
overall.
The writing itself is straightforward if not unnecessarily lengthy,
the result of which is mostly likely due to the ill-advised attempt
to stuff a memoir and commentary into one text.