A World Affairs Laboratory

SINCE wars begin in the minds of men, as the Unesco charter L so aptly puts it, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. One of the most promising avenues for approaching this goal is through international intercollegiate contacts. Approaches thus far used have been through exchanges of students and teachers, educational missions sent abroad, and international conferences of students and teachers. last of these seems to be the most fruitful for near-by schools in adjoining countries. A pioneering venture of this kind is in its eighth successful year for two midwest colleges (Macalester College of St. Paul and United College of Winnipeg), and is now being considered by United States and Canadian border colleges farther west. This annual student laboratory for international problems meets in alternate years at the two colleges. sixth annual meeting, held in November, I946, at St. Paul, dealt with national ideologies and the prospects for world order. And, naturally, the spotlight was focused on crucial problems facing the I947 session of the United Nations General Assembly. first annual conference, in I94I, discussed The Western Democracies in the World of Today, seeking to promote better understanding between the college students of the two countries and to analyze the common national problems in order to achieve better international co-operation. Political and economic sections studied common problems in these fields. Against a common political and cultural background, the resulting similarities and diversities of political evolution were considered: the Dominion-Empire relationship and United States political history; the nature of federalism in the two countries; and their joint political, military, and economic support for democracy in beleaguered Europe. r8le of geography, natural resources, and economic development in Canadian-American relations of the present and future were considered. second annual meeting, held during our full involvement in the war, re-emphasized the political and economic interdependence of the two democracies with the theme Our Common Purpose and Interest. Successive sessions discussed the background of separate statehood of Canada and the United States, how the two could effectively co-operate in the war effort, and collaboration in the postwar era. third annual

Charter · Dominion · Ideology · International relations · Order (exchange · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Canadian Identity and History · Law · Military and Defense Studies