Peace Out

Lester B. Pearson, in his 1957 Nobel Lecture, declared, “While we all pray for peace, we do not always, as free citizens, support the policies that make for peace or reject those which do not. We want our own kind of peace, brought about in our own way.” The previous day, Pearson had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his pivotal role in resolving the Suez Crisis of 1956, when he was Canada’s secretary of state for external affairs. In Oslo, he spoke in a language that is instantly recognizable to Canadians more than six decades later. Forward-thinking, cosmopolitan, and hopeful, his words invoked, if only implicitly, a long tradition of liberal internationalism dating back to Kant — a tradition in which humanity, through reason, prudence, and enlightened government, can overcome the horrors of war and enjoy the benefits of a lasting peace. Such an idea is the great promise of the post-war international order. It is also, as Pearson suggested, inherently...