To walk without fear: the global movement to ban landmines.

edited by Maxwell A. Cameron, Robert J. Lawson, and Brian W. Tomlin, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1998, 491 pages, $29.95

One of the key strengths of the global movement to ban landmines has been its ability to quickly generate and widely disperse information about landmines, certainly throughout the rich countries of the North and even beyond. With the publication of To Walk Without Fear, this attribute has been extended to information about the movement itself, and about the many governmental, non-governmental, and international agency elements and interactions that made it such a landmark success in such a short span of time.

There is no doubt that many, not least some of the central actors, were surprised by the rapid progress from the formation of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) in October 1992 to - a mere five years later - a landmines ban treaty in Ottawa signed by more than 120 states (now 135). In 1997, during the hectic period leading up to the December treaty conference, the Canadian government sponsored a reflective process that attempted to answer the questions that so many were asking - why did the landmines campaign succeed, and what were its lessons for similar campaigns in the future? In a series of workshops and consultations, including a large session immediately following the Ottawa treaty, academics and representatives of NGOs, international agencies, and governments met to assess the meaning of the landmines ban campaign.

To Walk Without Fear is the result of those meetings. The book provides the most comprehensive picture to date of the remarkable coordination and collaboration that was, and to a large extent remains, the global movement to ban landmines. With contributions by many of the people at the centre of the rapid "Ottawa Process" - which in less than two years built the critical mass that guaranteed the success of the Ottawa treaty - the book offers behind-the-scenes information about the ICBL, the international agencies like the Red Cross, and the government officials that collaborated on the creation and success of the treaty. Going beyond descriptions of the treaty process, To Walk Without Fear also contains several academically-generated analytical articles about the wider implications of the movement. Although some downplay the importance or uniqueness of the campaign, in general the essays support the view that the collaboration among governments, NGOs and international agencies in building a landmines ban was a momentous, efficacious effort that may signal more innovative, human security-based foreign policy initiatives in the future.