Building Cooperative Security in Asia Pacific: Canadian Track-Two Initiatives,1989-2005 is a new research report by Paul Evans, David Dewitt and Brian Job.
Written at the beginning of a turbulent Indo-Pacific era, this is an aide mémoire focused on Canadian efforts led by academics and officials working with Asian partners to advance cooperative and human security in a region then described as Asia Pacific.
It chronicles a sequence of fourteen regional and domestic “track-two” dialogue initiatives led by Canadian academics between 1989 and 2005. They were based on an unusual level of coordination between political leaders and senior diplomats in Ottawa and academics across the country committed to activities beyond the confines of traditional scholarship.
It is less a celebration than a case study of diplomatic entrepreneurship at a creative and hopeful moment at home and in regional affairs. But more than memories, some of its core ideas, ambitions and structures remain instructive as Canada unfolds its new Indo-Pacific Strategy.
This report was reviewed by Stewart Henderson in the June 2025 issue of Forum: Bulletin of the Canadian Foreign Service Alumni. Click here to read the review
A condensed version of this report has been published in International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis https://doi.org/10.1177/00207020251337746
