Footprints in the Snow

Abstract

Perhaps at no time since 1945, even during the high water mark of decolonisation in the 1960’s, have we been so conscious of the powerful and seemingly irresistible universal appeal of self-determination as a means of redressing historical grievances and forging new agendas for development To be sure, this picture of global fragmentation may seem as harrowing as it is liberating. Liberal internationalists like Michael Ignatieff are horrified by this apparent retreat from reason and the descent into the dark recesses of tribalism.¹ Most of us are numbed by the nightly atrocities visited upon our television screens. Many, too, are concerned for the new insecurities which this process brings to our hopes and expectations for international order. Our bewilderment and apparent helplessness in the face of the Bosnian tragedy only seem to confirm these anxieties.