George Ignatieff: A feisty disarmament diplomat in the Cold War era
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00207020231178924 |
| Author | Paul Meyer |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Lessons of History |
George Ignatieff: A feisty
disarmament diplomat in the
Cold War era
Paul Meyer
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Abstract
George Ignatieff had a long and distinguished diplomatic career, but only his last post-
ing to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva (1969–1972)
enabled him to focus on the existential threat posed by weapons of mass destruction
and what could be done through arms control and disarmament to avoid a nuclear
Armageddon. He was adept at maneuvering within the limits available to middle pow-
ers during the Cold War. Ignatieff was ahead of his time in proposing a professional-
ization of the policy development process for Canada, and in suggesting means to
bridge the gap between bureaucratic and political institutions in defining security pol-
icy. Several of his ideas would be realized only years afterwards. Throughout his life he
was “indefatigable in his work for peace and international security,”and his contribu-
tion to disarmament diplomacy merits renewed attention as the world enters another
period of nuclear threats.
Keywords
disarmament, diplomacy, Canada, arms control, disarmament conference, George
Ignatieff, nuclear arms race
George Pavlovich Ignatieff (1913–1989) was an eminent Canadian diplomat who
served in wartime London as well as Ambassador to Yugoslavia, NATO and at the
UN in New York. His last diplomatic assignment from 1969 to 1972 in Geneva was
as Canada’s representative to the forum now known as the Conference on
Corresponding author:
Paul Meyer, School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University, 7200-515 West Hastings Street,
Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B 5K3, Canada.
Email: pmeyer@sfu.ca
Lesson of History
International Journal
2023, Vol. 78(1-2) 263–279
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00207020231178924
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Disarmament with its sixty-five member states, but which was then the Eighteen
Nation Conference on Disarmament and, for most of his tenure, the 30-member
Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (CCD). After his ambassadorships at
NATO and the UN, Ignatieff might have been in the running for a senior posting
(and he was in contention to be named High Commissioner in London), but he
appeared satisfied with the Geneva assignment. The Geneva position, while rather
obscure, was devoted to an issue that had animated Ignatieff throughout his career,
namely, how to prevent nuclear war and curb the arms race between superpowers,
which had the potential to eradicate humanity.
Ignatieff’s exposure to and concern with the existential threat represented by
nuclear weapons was salient during an early assignment as principal advisor to
General Andrew McNaughton, Canada’s representative to the UN Atomic Energy
Commission from 1946 to1949, and throughout his final diplomatic posting to
Geneva and the CCD. Notably, his engagement with the disarmament subject did
not end with his retirement from public service in 1972, but continued throughout
the rest of his life as a prominent leader of the civil society organizations of
Canadian Pugwash Group and Science for Peace, and as a respected “elder”who
was at ease in communicating with foreign ministers and prime ministers alike to
promote arms control and disarmament ideas amidst the intense ideological and
armed confrontation between East and West that marked the Cold War. This situation
was not unlike the great power rivalry and deteriorating international security condi-
tion that characterize our current era. Some of Ignatieff’s proposals are as relevant
today as they were when he put them forward half a century ago.
This article examines the evolution of Ignatieff’s thinking about nuclear and other
weapons of mass destruction and the efforts to control or eliminate them, through three
major phases of his life: his early assignment to the UN Atomic Energy Commission, a
period in Geneva at the CCD, and his post-retirement activism from his academic posi-
tions at Trinity College and the University of Toronto (where he served as provost and
chancellor respectively), as well as his time heading prominent non-governmental
organizations. The relationship between his own thinking and the security policy of
the Canadian government, especially under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, is
explored. Next, the article discusses some of the innovative proposals that Ignatieff
championed over many years, such as his espousal of an expert committee to guide
Canada’sofficial arms control and disarmament activity. The article concludes with
an assessment of his legacy, including how his chief ideas have fared between then
and now.
Present at the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC)
The United Nations was preoccupied with the atomic bomb from the start. The shock
waves engendered by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were profound
as officials from around the globe struggled to comprehend the significance of this new
264 International Journal 78(1-2)
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