Book Description

To Walk Without Fear is a comprehensive and authoritative account of the global movement to ban landmines. It brings together leading academics, senior policy makers, and prominent leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to examine and draw lessons from the "Ottawa Process" thatculminated in December 1997 when over 120 states signed a convention to ban the use, sale, and production of landmines.An essay by Nobel laureate Jody Williams and Steve Goose, of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), describes how a global coalition of NGOs led the world toward a ban on landmines, while a chapter by the Canadian diplomats who orchestrated the "Ottawa Process" takes the reader behindthe scenes into the diplomatic arm-wrestling that resulted in Canada's leadership role. International specialists offer assessments of the military utility of mines (retired General Robert Gard), their humanitarian consequences (Alex Vines), the role of the Red Cross (Stuart Maslen), landminevictims (Jerry White and Ken Rutherford), national ban campaigns (including Valerie Warmington and Mary Warham), the problems of mine clearance (Don Hubert), and interpretations of the legal text of the treaty (Thomas Hajnoczi and Deborah Chatsis). Academic specialists analyze the policy process andnegotiations, explore the political economy of mines, identify the implications of the treaty for the development of international humanitarian norms, democratization, and civil society, and Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs (Lloyd Axworthy) draws lessons from the Ottawa Process for other policyissues. The book resulted from an unusual collaboration between universities, governments, and nongovernmental organizations which developed in tandem with the negotiation process itself. Chapters were developed through a series of policy workshops, a seminar series, intensive focus-group discussions withgovernment officials and NGO members, and a "lessons learned" exercise that brought together over 200 NGO and government participants immediately after the signing of the convention. As a result, the book provides a rich source of new information and analyses. It will be both timely and ofenduring value to policy makers interested in drawing lessons from the Ottawa Process, to non-governmental organizations interested in replicating its results in other areas, to academic specialists and students interested in foreign policy and international affairs, and to the general publicseeking an accessible and readable account of one of the most significant global movements in recent years.