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Private Military and Security Companies and States: A Force Divided, by Christopher Spearin

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 June 2018
Published date01 June 2018
DOI10.1177/0020702018782977
AuthorAaron Ettinger
Subject MatterBook Reviews
SG-IJXJ180038 185..186 Book Reviews
331
minister Lloyd Axworthy and an afterword by current president of the UNA in
Canada, Kathryn White.
While each chapter does a solid job of examining its subject matter through the
lens of one or more of the book’s three main themes, the editors’ case study selec-
tion process is not particularly clear. The book is not intended to provide compre-
hensive coverage of Canada’s seventy-year relationship with the UN, and is
comparatively sparse on events from the twenty-f‌irst century. Perhaps the editors
could have included a chapter examining Canada’s historical and contemporary
engagement with the Security Council, a topical issue in light of the Harper gov-
ernment’s failed diplomacy regarding the UN’s most important organ. Likewise, a
chapter on Canada’s often problematic approach to UN debates about indigenous
peoples could have provided additional insights into the challenges facing the state
as it struggles to pursue internationalist goals while working to safeguard the
national interest and manage competing domestic societal preferences. Chapters
on global environmental diplomacy or the UN’s human rights institutions would
have helped expand the book’s coverage.
Still, the book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of Canada’s
relationship with the UN. It persuasively shows that while Canada’s ideational
commitment to UN internationalism and the country’s ef‌f‌icacy to enact global
change have not always lived up to the familiar and self-serving cliche´s, there is
nevertheless a proud legacy of Canadian engagement with the UN that scholars
should continue to research and that government of‌f‌icials and ordinary Canadians
should continue to uphold.
Christopher Spearin
Private Military and Security Companies and States: A Force Divided
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 229 pp. $169.00 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-3-319-54902-6
Reviewed by: Aaron Ettinger (aaron.ettinger@uwaterloo.ca), Department of Political Science,
University of Waterloo
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