David Last gives a lecture titled, "The Future of Peacemaking" in the Scholars room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union Monday night. The event was sponsored by the International Programs Center. Lauren Harned/The Daily

An associate professor of politics and retired lieutenant colonel said during a Monday night lecture in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union peacekeeping has a future if regional leaders look past sectional obligations to their global responsibilities to manage violence.

David Last teaches at the Royal Military College of Canada, served in the Canadian army and has worked in respected peacekeeping centers, according to his biography on the lecture program’s Web site.

Last lectured on “The Future of Peacekeeping” as part of John Fishel’s Presidential Dream Course, “Small Wars – Low Intensity Conflict.” This was the fourth lecture in this five-part series.

Fishel is a guest lecturer for the School of International and Area Studies.

The goal of peacekeeping is to control violence, Last said. By doing this, countries can then begin to handle other important issues.

“In managing violence, there is a better chance at handling other problems, like climate change, from which violence distracts us,” Last said.

He said people need to look at contexts of situations in order to determine the best methods of peacekeeping. He said he based this off of a study in an issue of the British Medical Journal that said only 15 percent of medical choices are based on evidence. When British officials worked to change this, doctors were able to perform less unnecessary surgeries and other practices.

The same method needs to be applied to peacekeeping, Last said. We need to study what works in different circumstances to make better choices.

“For management of violence, what is our evidence?” Last said. “What do we really know about peacekeeping, about how it works, when it works, about contexts and circumstances?“

He said anyone, no matter their field, can help contribute to the answers to these questions and these are studies waiting to be made by a new generation.

Last outlined four different scenarios for the future of peacekeeping, running the gamut from an almost utopia to a major world war. Depending on what paths countries decide to take and what external forces occur, any one of these four scenarios is possible.

For example, Last said if the U.S. were to continue its globalization efforts, and if countries all played a role in shouldering the burden of global defense, the world could approach peace.

“With enough work, insurgency might be completely put on the back burner ... and [we] will live happily ever after,” Last said. “I am optimistic, but not that naïve about the future of peacekeeping.”

This scenario is demanding in its expectations, Last said. Regions will have to organize into security centers and work together for peacekeeping. Right now, Europe is the only area focusing on this sort of structure.

Peacekeeping does not always have to be highly technological or advanced, Last said. The island of Crete in the 19th century had a good peacekeeping model, and it did not have such complex organizations as the U.S. practices today.

“This [Dream Course] is a fantastic program to design courses around eminent scholars,” Last said, “and I am grateful that I [was] considered eminent enough to invite.”

The final lecture for the Dream Course on Nov. 18 is about “The War on Terrorism and U.S. Values.”