Scarce Heard amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping, by John Conrad
| Date | 01 March 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702014564663 |
| Author | Alistair D. Edgar |
| Published date | 01 March 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Thus, Bosco’s attention to individual strategies within the ICC accounts only
partly for the political, economic, and structural constraints that shape the court’s
operations. While this narrowness is due, to some extent, to the limits of a chrono-
logical narrative, it also relates to Bosco’s focus on the functional role of the ICC
prosecutor as the chief contact point between factors dubbed external (e.g., US
influence) and the court. Recent sociological research focused on the agents that
operate global justice courts has underlined the need both to open up the ‘‘black
box’’ of such institutions, and, beyond an institutionalist perspective, to underline
the resources, interests, and struggles that make up the field of global justice.
5
Beyond anecdotal evidence, Bosco’s account would have gained from exploring
in greater depth transformations within the fields of power of the US and other
major states in order to better understand changes in states’ attitudes toward the
court. By the same token, the Security Council seems to be conceived of as a direct
transmission belt between political incentives, individual choices, and legal conse-
quences. Further exploration of the distribution of positions and struggles within
the ICC itself could have provided a more nuanced outlook: indeed, while, as the
author argues, ‘‘the court’s early years have created a path from which it may not
be easy to deviate’’ (187), such path dependency may not be so direct, linear, and
uniform. Bosco’s volume concludes, indeed, by making such potential overtures. It
is a welcome contribution to research on international tribunals, which have
remained until recently the preserve of legal specialists.
6
Its approachable style
also makes it a critically important read for anyone wanting to understand the
operations of an institution that remains little known despite its growing promin-
ence in global politics.
John Conrad
Scarce Heard amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping
Toronto: Dundurn, 2011. 327 pp. $26.99 (paper)
ISBN 978–1–55488–981–5
Reviewed by: Alistair D. Edgar, Wilfrid Laurier University
Lieutenant-Colonel John Conrad’s second book with Dundurn Press follows up his
earlier memoir, What the Thunder Said, an account of his operational experiences
in 2006 as a Canadian logistics battalion commander supporting Task Force Orion
in Kandahar, Afghanistan. As a day-to-day war diary, What the Thunder Said was
a stirring and insightful personal account of the at times desperate Canadian logis-
tics effort. It should be read alongside Task Force Orion Regional Command
South commander Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Hope’s excellent Dancing with the
Dushman (Canadian Defence Academy Press, 2006). Conrad’s latest effort,
5. See Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 173 (June 2008) and 174 (September 2008).
6. Jens Meierhenrich, ‘‘The practice of international law: A theoretical analysis,’’ Law &
Contemporary Problems, 76, no. 3–4 (2013): 1–85.
Book Reviews 161
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