bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 2 (2010) — Summer 2010 // Été 2010, p. 3
Lors de l’entracte à un concert de jazz d’envergure, je suis tombé sur un vieil ami, ancien chef de mission aujourd’hui à la retraite. Nous avons parlé de choses et d’autres, notamment de bout. « C’est la meilleure chose qui soit issue des Affaires étrangères dernièrement», m’a-t-il déclaré. Je l’ai remercié du compliment au nom de toute l’équipe, mais j’ai constaté qu’il ne souriait pas. Il avait, par inadvertance, saisi l’état d’âme d’une récente réunion du comité supérieur de rédaction, dont il vaut la peine que je partage avec vous les principaux points.
The main message was simple -Canada’s role in the world is evolving rapidly (or devolving, if you prefer), and the foreign service with it. To paraphrase, board members said that bout needs to keep pace and also develop greater presence in electronic media. It must reflect the spirit of the foreign service and focus on its integrity (institutional, cultural, and professional), which the board sees as under threat. It very much sees the journal as the “human face of Canadian diplomacy.”
What do those principles mean in practical terms? As the board saw it, bout is not an academic forum for debating international politics or the merits of major actors, nor is it a magazine for nostalgia buffs. They see a real role for preserving institutional memory and for capturing the lived experience of Canadian diplomacy. That’s primarily for the benefit of younger officers but also for those who want a little more insight into key events and issues. The journal should meet practical info needs and deal with quality of life issues specific to the foreign service. It needs to reflect the multicultural and bilingual reality of today’s service, reflect all streams, and engage the readers on emerging trends and issues.
As a journal, bout’s great weakness is also its greatest strength: it is entirely voluntary. The magazine exists because foreign service officers, active and retired, sit on the board and write timely innovative articles, while PAFSO staff volunteer their own time to deal with editorial and production issues. Our printers ensure a quality product and our advertisers top up PAFSO funds to make the whole enterprise viable.
The role of the editorial staff is to translate the Board’s vision into reality, offer leadership, and exercise quality control. Ideally, readers already see bout evolving. The PAFSO President’s column has been reinstated, focusing on today’s issues. A series on lesser-known actors in Canadian diplomacy was kicked off with David Malone’s piece on the IDRC, followed up in this issue by Colin Robertson on the Canadian International Council, with others slated for future issues. Jean-Philippe Tachdjian wrote on Lycée education in Ottawa and struggles with Revenue Canada, and in this issue we look at money matters and Tradex.
On institutional memory, former undersecretary Si Taylor sums up the Cold War. Hark Kroll (see bout Volume 25, No. 1) and Jim Gould have offered two perspectives, looking back and to the future on Yemen as diplomacy’s next great challenge. To engage the reader we are reporting on the PAFSO Awards and PAFSO’s remarkable photo contest. On the human face of diplomacy, Jean-François Hubert-Rouleau gives us a first hand account of the Haiti earthquake, of strength in adversity.
Pour que bout reste « la meilleure chose qui soit issue des Affaires étrangères », nous avons besoin de vos suggestions et de votre apport, ainsi que de vos articles – exprimez-vous!
– Stuart Hughes
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Originally published in / Publié à l’origine dans bout de papier, Vol. 25, No. 2 (2010) — Summer 2010 // Été 2010, p. 3. Read the rest of this issue / Lire le reste de ce numéro →
