A Diplomacy of Hope: Canada and Disarmament, 1945-1988

J.L. Granatstein is a history professor at York University and author of
War and Peacekeeping and For Better or For Worse.

Until the advent of Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, disarmament was a
propaganda game played by the Great Powers and their friends.
Conferences were held and poses were struck, but action never followed.
Some countries took the process more seriously than others and,
predictably, Canada was one of them. Huge files grew at the Department
of External Affairs, testimony to the devoted efforts of a few
diplomats.

Now, in this very long book, there is a full account of Canada’s
efforts to push enemies and friends toward disarmament. The translated
French is rendered in agonizingly wooden prose, although the authors’
judgments are sometimes blunt. The research into External Affairs
records is thorough, but interviews are surprisingly few (to judge by
their notes). There is no apparent research at all into collateral
records, a major flaw, and surprisingly little attempt to relate
disarmament to other issues. What we have, then, is a long study of a
minor issue and this is a pity. This book could have been made into a
critical examination of how small alliance members can play their parts.
It could have been a study of Canadian delusions of greatness. Instead,
it resolutely remains a study of a minor subject, and one that, given
the limited research, is in no way definitive.