Blessed are the Peacemakers: Canada,the United Nations,and the Search for a Korean Armistice, 1952–53

Abstract

Canada's post-war role as a middle power within the UN system and a strong advocate of negotiated settlement of international disputes focuses on Lester Pearson's role in the Suez Crisis of 1956 and dates Canada's new diplomatic stance from that time. This article argues that Canada's emerging diplomatic stance in fact is grounded in the diplomacy surrounding the Korean War at the beginning of that decade.     

Australia's response to the West New Guinea dispute, 1952–53

In the post‐World War II period, the question of the disposition of West New Guinea developed into a bone of contention between Holland and Indonesia. Because of its geographic contiguity and in recognition of New Guinea's role as a strategic bulwark for its own defence, Australia took a keen interest in the determination of sovereignty over West New Guinea. It opposed the transfer of sovereignty over the island to Indonesia and sided with the Dutch. The period 1952–53 saw Australia taking practical action to bolster the Dutch resolve to retain full sovereignty over western New Guinea and the emergence of Australia and the Netherlands as de facto joint guarantors of half of the island. This paper discusses how Australia responded to the West New Guinea dispute, especially in the period 1952–53, and focuses on why Australia turned its concern over the status of West New Guinea into practical action. The paper argues that Australian action was brought about by the deteriorating internal situation in Indonesia and the consequent Dutch determination to maintain a permanent presence in New Guinea.     

Britain,the Old Commonwealth and the Problem of Rhodesian Independence, 1964–65

This article uses new sources from the National Archives of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to examine the consultation and cooperation between Britain and the Old Commonwealth in dealing with the problem of Rhodesian independence. It demonstrates that Canada developed a proactive approach towards the Rhodesian problem but Britain, Australia and New Zealand gave only limited encouragement to Canadian initiatives to avert Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). This article also argues that problems in British policy formulation – especially the weakness of its attempts to deter Rhodesia from unilateral action and its hesitant contingency planning for a UDI – strained the relationship with its Old Commonwealth partners. This is significant because it belies the impression that the problem of Rhodesian independence divided the Commonwealth simply along racial lines.     

Britain,South African gold,and the sterling area, 1945–50

This article examines New Zealand's role in the British/Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE, 1955–58), the first mechanised crossing of Antarctica. Despite much interest in New Zealand's evolving relationship with Britain, the Commonwealth and the United States after 1945, the Antarctic dimension has received little attention. New Zealand's participation in the TAE, alongside activities attached to the International Geophysical Year, strengthened its claims to sovereignty in the Ross Dependency. Instead, popular and media interpretations of the TAE concentrated on perceived rivalries between the two leaders, Vivian Fuchs and Edmund Hillary, thus severely straining Anglo-New Zealand polar relations despite the successful crossing of Antarctica. The fortieth anniversary celebration of the TAE at Scott Base failed to consider critically how New Zealand's relationship with the Antarctic was (and is) imagined and represented.