Lloyd Axworthy wanted to build bridges. So the long-time parliamentarian and foreign affairs minister took his tools to the ivory tower when he retired from politics this fall.
The former Liberal MP from Winnipeg was recently appointed director of the new Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues where he hopes to build connections between academia and the political world.
He and others involved in the Liu Centre on the campus of the University of British Columbia believe it can be more than an airy-fairy think tank that few decision-makers pay attention to.
"That's what intrigued me, that it wasn't going to be a traditional research think tank, but one that would actually have an outreach to it," Mr. Axworthy said in a recent interview.
Olav Slaymaker, a geography professor and acting director until Mr. Axworthy arrived, said the former foreign affairs minister's strong record on human-rights issues was a major boost for the centre's credibility.
"I had hoped that we might be able to attract someone of his experience and eminence in within five to 10 years," Prof. Slaymaker said. "Instead, we got him right away, which is an enormous plus for us."
The Liu Centre plans to bring together scholars from various academic disciplines, along with professionals such as businesspeople and politicians, to produce studies that governments can put into practice.
It's the fruition of a dream for the centre's first director, Ivan Head, who came up with the idea several years ago.
"Our purpose here is to engage in policy-focused studies," said Mr. Head, a widely respected expert on international issues who was president of the International Development Research Centre for 13 years and is best known in political circles as a foreign-policy adviser to former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
"I've been in government and decisions are often taken without adequate understanding of what the issues are," he said.
Mr. Head and others think the Liu Centre is on the cutting edge of thinking about global issues.
The centre's members hope to influence policy-makers on issues such as climate change, global capital markets, communicable diseases and the growing divide between developed countries and the Third World.
The Liu Centre was named after Jieh Jow Liu, a Taiwanese philanthropist, a member of the island's National Assembly for 25 years and a long-time supporter of UBC.
Mr. Axworthy, who had spent more than two decades in politics, jumped at the chance to try to turn ideas into policy.
"What interested me . . . was the notion of being able to establish a place that could marry the world of ideas with the world of action, where I come from," said Mr. Axworthy, who will spend 60 per cent of his time at the centre and commute between a new home on Vancouver Island and an apartment in Vancouver.
As director, Mr. Axworthy will help co-ordinate people and ideas, but he also hopes to teach and to conduct some research.
He wants to provide a setting where "practitioners -- whether it's government, business, diplomacy, community, non-governmental organizations -- can draw upon the resources of the researcher, the analyst, the thinker."
Despite being known by most Canadians as a long-time politician, Mr. Axworthy is also familiar with academia.
He earned a master's degree and PhD in political science from Princeton University and taught at the University of Winnipeg.
His favourite projects included a ban on antipersonnel land mines, action against the use of children as soldiers and a campaign against trade of small arms.
Gordon Smith, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs and current director of the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria, said there are only about six centres in the world similar to the Liu Centre and the one where he works.
Mr. Axworthy began his new job shortly after the federal election was called and his political life ended. But he says he's ready for the challenge of trying to keep some of his political ideas in front of politicians.