19 - 20 October 2007, University of New Brunswick

The combined United Nations-NATO mission in Afghanistan is the latest in a series of stability building missions undertaken by Canada and the international community within nations torn apart by war and the collapse of civil society. These interventions in what became known as "failed states" increased in regularity in the aftermath of the Cold War. They involve more military, development and diplomatic effort than more familiar peacekeeping missions between former warring nations.

However, debate over the Afghanistan mission reveals how uninformed Canadian citizens, policy makers and even Canadian Forces members are about what the nation experienced since first deploying to Yugoslavia and Cambodia in 1992 and how stability missions evolved since. Indeed, the Afghan mission is better described on a continuum in that evolution rather than a radical departure from Canadian and NATO policy.

The broad intention of the conference is to determine the extent of a 'learning curve' from earlier operations to the present. What, if any, are the continuities of concept, doctrine and best practices? How in practical application does the current mission in Afghanistan relate to past experiences of peace-building and nation-building in other areas?

The other conference aim is to bring academics, soldiers, policy makers and policy practitioners involved in stability operations together in a publicly accessible forum and thus contribute to the standard of knowledge in discussions over current and future missions. The event includes our usual fall dinner at King's Landing Historic Site.