Tests of Global Governance: Canadian Diplomacy and United Nations World Conferences

This book provides a detailed examination of what happens when traditional diplomatic methods interface with new forms of global governance. The role of Canada is given special attention as both a unique and representative sample of how the interplay between diplomacy and global governance has played out over the past decade or so during UN World Conferences. The main focus is on the span of activity from the 1992 Rio UNCED conference, through the 1993 Vienna Conference on Human Rights, the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development, the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women, to the 2001 Durban World Conference on Racism. The picture that emerges, while not translating into a complete recipe for a shift toward democratic governance, suggests a deepening network of institutions, actors, and organizations forming the complex regimes that govern the major arenas of world politics. At a country-specific level, the analysis supports the view that a deep residue of multilateralism still exists in Canada but argues that this tradition faces ongoing challenges from a variety of sources.