"We must keep on trying to solve problems, one by one, stage by stage, if not on the basis of confidence and cooperation, at least on that of mutual toleration and self-interest"
About this Quote
Pearson’s line is diplomacy with the gloves off: an argument for progress that doesn’t pretend everyone in the room is friends. The genius is the slow, procedural rhythm - “one by one, stage by stage” - a verbal blueprint for incrementalism, aimed at an era when grand moral crusades kept colliding with nuclear reality. He’s selling patience not as a virtue but as a survival strategy.
The key move is the pivot from idealism to realism. “Confidence and cooperation” sounds like the brochure version of international order; Pearson immediately undercuts it with “if not... at least,” as if he’s already anticipating the eye-roll from rivals, hardliners, and exhausted publics. What he offers instead is a thinner, sturdier social contract: “mutual toleration and self-interest.” Toleration isn’t love; it’s restraint. Self-interest isn’t shameful here; it’s the only reliable fuel when values don’t align.
Context matters. Pearson was a Cold War liberal internationalist - a UN guy, a NATO guy, the architect of peacekeeping in the Suez Crisis aftermath. He understood that the postwar order ran not on trust but on managed distrust. The subtext is a warning against purity politics on the world stage: waiting for moral consensus is how crises metastasize. Better to stitch temporary agreements between suspicious actors than to gamble on the sudden appearance of goodwill.
It’s also a subtle defense of Canada’s middle-power role: not commanding history, but nudging it forward, stepwise, by making coexistence workable.
The key move is the pivot from idealism to realism. “Confidence and cooperation” sounds like the brochure version of international order; Pearson immediately undercuts it with “if not... at least,” as if he’s already anticipating the eye-roll from rivals, hardliners, and exhausted publics. What he offers instead is a thinner, sturdier social contract: “mutual toleration and self-interest.” Toleration isn’t love; it’s restraint. Self-interest isn’t shameful here; it’s the only reliable fuel when values don’t align.
Context matters. Pearson was a Cold War liberal internationalist - a UN guy, a NATO guy, the architect of peacekeeping in the Suez Crisis aftermath. He understood that the postwar order ran not on trust but on managed distrust. The subtext is a warning against purity politics on the world stage: waiting for moral consensus is how crises metastasize. Better to stitch temporary agreements between suspicious actors than to gamble on the sudden appearance of goodwill.
It’s also a subtle defense of Canada’s middle-power role: not commanding history, but nudging it forward, stepwise, by making coexistence workable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
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