Ww1 and Contemporary Policy on War and Peace
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Group of 78 Annual Policy Conference September 26 - 28, 2014 Canadian War Museum Ottawa, Ontario WW1 AND In partnership with CONTEMPORARY Project Ploughshares POLICY ON WAR AND PEACE Group of 78 Annual Policy Conference 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS Conference Organizing Committee Roy Culpeper (Chair), Manfred Bienefeld, Joan Broughton, Mary Edwards, Richard Harmston, Peggy Mason, John Siebert Conference Advisors Tim Cook, Greg Donaghy, Alistair Edgar, Des Morton, Jamie Swift Rapporteurs Coordinator: John Siebert Rapporteurs: Allie Bly, Nolan Kraszkiewicz, Darren Kroph, Sandrine Uwimana (from Conrad Grebel College, Waterloo) Acknowledgements Our thanks must go first to the Speakers, Panelists, and Moderators who contributed their knowledge, experience, and vision toward a greater understanding of the Great War and its implications that continue for peace and human security today. Holger Afflerbach, Professor of Central European History, University of Leeds Mustafa Aksakal, Associate Professor, Georgetown University Ira Basen, CBC Radio Daryl Copeland, Author and consultant John De Chastelain, Retired Canadian general and diplomat, former head of the International Commission on Decommissioning in Northern Ireland Kara Dixon Vuic, Associate Professor of History, High Point University, North Carolina Conference on Disarmament in Geneva Walter Dorn, Professor, Royal Military College of Canada and the Canadian Forces College Alistair Edgar, Executive Director, Academic Council on the UN System (ACUNS); Associate Professor of Political Science, Wilfred Laurier University Michael Enright, host, The Sunday Edition, CBC Radio Marius Grinius, Former Canadian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and the Paul Heinbecker, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation and Inaugural Director of the Centre for Global Relations at Laurier University Jeff Keshen, Dean of Arts, Mount Royal University Ian McKay, Professor of Canadian History, Queen’s University Peggy Mason, President, Rideau Institute, former Ambassador for Disarmament Desmond Morton, Author and founding director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada Ernie Regehr, Senior Fellow in Arctic Security for the Simons Foundation and Research Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict at Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo Roger Sarty, Professor of History, Wilfred Laurier University, Research Director, Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies Tamara Scheer, Ludwig Bolzmann Institute for Social Science History, Vienna Nicole Schwartz-Morgan, Professor Emerita, Royal Military College of Canada Amy Shaw, Associate Professor, University of Lethbridge John Siebert, Executive Director, Project Ploughshares Metta Spencer, Editor-in-chief of Peace magazine and professor emeritus of sociology at University of Toronto Jamie Swift, Co-author, Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety, and co- founder, Peace Quest R.H, Thomson, The World Remembers: a Canadian and International WW1 Centenary Project Gordon Vachon, Senior Consultant to the CTBTO on on-site inspection operational procedures We acknowledge with gratitude the collaboration with the Canadian War Museum and Project Ploughshares in hosting this event, as well as the support of Peace Quest, the Embassy of the United States, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Embassy of Austria, and the Academic Council on the United Nations System. Most of all, thanks to all 132 participants who attended the Conference, contributing to a lively discussion on World War 1 and its implications for many issues of war and peace that still resonate today. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 2 The Group of 78 ................................................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 Conclusions & Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 7 I. Remembrance of WW1- Recognizing and broadening how the story is framed .................... 8 II. Multilateral Organizations ................................................................................................................... 9 III. Truth and War ..................................................................................................................................... 9 IV. The Costs of War .............................................................................................................................. 10 V. Political Control of the Military, and Citizen Control of the Politicians...................................... 11 VI. Human Rights and Dissention ....................................................................................................... 11 VII. The Role of Civil Society ................................................................................................................ 12 VIII. Was the war avoidable? Could it have been stopped sooner? ........................................... 12 IX. Innovations of War – New Military Technologies and Disarmament .................................... 13 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 Keynote Address Summary: The Great War 1914-1919: The Political Consequences for Canada 16 Desmond Morton, Founding Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada ........... 16 Panel 1: Efforts to Stop the War ..................................................................................................................... 18 Amy Shaw – Pacifism in WW1 ................................................................................................................... 18 Holger Afflerbach – Was WW1 avoidable? ........................................................................................... 19 Ernie Regehr – Lessons from contemporary armed conflicts ............................................................. 20 Panel 2 Innovations in War ...................................................................................................................... 21 Roger Sarty - 1914-1918: Dashed Dreams of Decisive War................................................................. 21 Gordon Vachon – WW1 and Chemical Weapons: Before and After .............................................. 21 John Siebert ................................................................................................................................................. 22 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 Keynote Address Summary: The World Remembers: A Canadian & International WW1 Centenary Project................................................................................................................................................................ 24 R.H. Thomson: Canadian Actor and Arts Activist............................................................................. 24 Panel 3 Civil Society and WW1 ............................................................................................................... 25 Kara Dixon Vuic - Women, War, and Peace: American Women in the Great War ..................... 25 2 Tamara Scheer - A Factor of Constant Concern: Habsburg Civil Society during World War One ........................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Jamie Swift ................................................................................................................................................... 26 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 Keynote Address Summary: Paradoxes of Vimy Ridge ........................................................................... 28 Ian McKay: Historian, Queens University ............................................................................................ 28 Panel 4 Memory and War ........................................................................................................................ 29 Peggy Mason .............................................................................................................................................. 29 Jeff Keshen ................................................................................................................................................... 29 Nicole Schwartz-Morgan ........................................................................................................................... 30 Ira Basen ....................................................................................................................................................... 30 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................................