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John Sinclair
Senior Fellow, School of International Development and Global Studies
Canada's leading centre for analysis and debate of international affairs.
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Author's Posts
What Challenges Face a New World Bank President?
- Analysis
- January 23, 2019
The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were created in 1944, in the closing months of WWII. The Bretton Woods conference was the Allies’ vehicle for rebuilding a shattered Europe, relying on European and American leadership. This …
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Development Partnership Part 1: The Way of the Future
- Analysis
- October 10, 2018
A key goal for Canada is to be BACK as a credible development partner. A significant driver is the ambition of taking a UN Security Council (SC) seat in 2020. Recent signals, however, suggest some uncertainty about Canada winning …
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Development Partnership Part 2: A Canadian Action Agenda
- Analysis
- October 10, 2018
This blog continues from Part 1, The Way of the Future.
A solid agenda exists of desirable institutional changes in Global Affairs Canada (GAC, and other public entities) over the next few years. We need to start building new …
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Has the G7 Lost its Mojo?
- Analysis
- June 17, 2018
After a series of sessions on global trade and the key Canadian priorities of gender equality and climate change, the highly anticipated two-day Group of Seven (G7) summit ended Saturday afternoon in Charlevoix, Quebec.
There had been hopes for a …
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A Canadian G7 Initiative: New Faces for a More Inclusive G20
- Analysis
- January 25, 2018
These are troubled days for our world. But Canada has a once-in-seven-years privilege to host the next G7 Summit, June 8–9 at Charlevoix, Quebec. The agenda for this important meeting is Canada’s to shape. It already looks likely to cover …
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Next Steps: How to Make It All Happen
- Analysis
- January 25, 2018
In part 1 of this blog, “A Canadian G7 Initiative: New Faces for a More Inclusive G20,” I proposed the enhancement of the G20 by adding two new members — representing LDCs (least developed countries) and fragile states …
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China as #1: Where Might it Lead the World?
- Analysis
- November 11, 2017
It slowly crept up on us. But in a carefully choreographed 19th Party Congress in late October, President Xi Jinping was enthroned before several thousand elite party loyalists as “absolute monarch,” along with a multi-layered, hand-picked collection of respectful …
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A New G-20 for a Leaderless World
- Analysis
- July 14, 2017
The US retreat from leadership of liberal multilateralism could open a policy space for new members within a reformed G-20.
The 2017 G-20 summit, normally dull and technical, emerges as a key transition point in global power relations. G-20 …
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Is Canada Ready to Deliver a Feminist Development Co-operation Policy?
- Analysis
- June 22, 2017
A policy rethink on Canada’s Agenda 2030 commitments finally emerged as a feminist development manifesto from Canada’s Development Minister, Marie-Claude Bibeau. This feminist framework for Canadian aid is bold in its ambitions — some might call it revolutionary — but …
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The G7 Disruptor
- Analysis
- June 1, 2017
The G7 is traditionally praised for its solidarity and collegiality, but the May 26–27 summit saw a very fragile partnership with an unapologetic disruptor at the table. The summit, and the NATO summit the day before, had its technical successes, …
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Geopolitical Policy Challenges on a New Canadian Path, Part 2: The New Leadership and Canada
- Analysis
- May 3, 2017
Following on Part 1, this section extends the discussion of disrupting factors to explore what could be key changes and how Canada might respond to a new global order. For Part 1 of this post, click here.
Canadian public …
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Geopolitical Policy Challenges on a New Canadian Path, Part 1: New Disrupting Forces
- Analysis
- May 3, 2017
Canada needs to move beyond a policy perspective largely shaped by relations with the US and EU and build upon partnerships with the Global South.
The future is always hard to predict, but we already know that there is …
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Global nightmare, false alarm — or a first step to a new geopolitical order?
- Analysis
- November 22, 2016
We have had a few days now to calm our jangling nerves. President-elect Trump has already had a civilized conversation with President Obama and “promised” to keep a couple of features from Obamacare. But he is going to be an …
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TPP, TTIP, and CETA: Just Stalled or at a Dead-end?
- Analysis
- May 3, 2016
The acronyms are confusing enough to outsiders. TPP is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, sponsored by the US, bringing together 12 Pacific-rim countries representing 40% of the global economy. TTIP is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, potentially linking the …
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Is Canada “Fit for Purpose” in the face of a new global agenda?
by Julia Sanchez and John Sinclair
Canada has just elected a new government committed to ‘putting Canada back on the global stage’ by re-establishing Canada’s leadership position in promoting human rights and ending poverty. This commitment will be put to …
READ MOREChina’s Domino Tactics Boost Infrastructure Bank
China is looking ever the experienced super-power. In a week it has scooped up all the important European dominos, humiliating a U.S. government which has lobbied hard to block the launch of China’s new $50b Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank …
READ MOREIs the Global Partnership Ready for Action?
The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation was born at a global conference held in Busan, Korea in 2011 to confront concerns that old-fashioned aid (ODA) was not working. Billions were being spent and the Global South’s poor and vulnerable …
READ MOREWill a New Development Architecture Undercut the Poorest?
We are still living in the global financial crisis. Much of Europe and even the world of emerging economies are in the doldrums. By some standards, the situation has become grimmer, with China and Germany joining the list of countries …
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Who’s Leading the World?
The simple but disturbing answer is: nobody.
Our world has over a billion people still living in extreme poverty. There are 25 million jobless in Europe. Jihadists control half of Iraq. The Doha Trade Round is in its 13th…
READ MOREWith Russia Out of the G8, What About the G7 and G20?
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Prime Minister Harper has insistently demanded that Russia be expelled from the G8. But what sort of G7 will survive that action? And what happens to the G20?
For now, the situation was resolved at …
READ MOREPoverty, Inequality and Inclusiveness: Which Comes First?
These overlapping concepts together frame what many define as one of the principal challenges of modern society in both developing and developed countries. They have recently come to focus for two distinct reasons. The global financial crisis has exposed new …
READ MOREA Post-2015 Development Agenda: Into the Last (Long) Lap
Post-2015 is becoming the biggest development game in town, especially New York. A flurry of activity in the summer months climaxed at the end of September with a UNGA ‘Special Event’ at which leaders from both developed and developing countries …
READ MOREIs the Global Partnership Ready to Broaden Its Mandate?
Partnership, especially global, has to be a good thing. But many saw the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation as a flawed last-minute compromise agreed at the 2011 Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea.
The question remains whether the …
READ MOREThe G8 Summit: Another Flawed Show?
The G8 Summit took place quietly in Northern Ireland on June 17-18. UK Prime Minister Cameron was in the chair, with his bold TTT (Taxes, Trade and Transparency) theme.
None of the actors around the conference table brought rosy economic …
READ MOREA Better Canadian Growth Strategy: Both Inclusive and Effective
Canada is struggling to find a viable export-led growth strategy. So far we are surviving the global financial crisis due to our conservative regulatory framework. But there was no superior Harper-Flaherty economic wisdom or even Bank of Canada Governor Carney …
READ MOREBeyond 2015: MDGs, SDGs and Busan’s Global Partnership
Despite a still-struggling global economy, one in which contagion from the developed world is now enveloping emerging economies, there is a boom in international donor-recipient diplomacy. Globalization is forcing us to recognize that there is no longer easily divisible rich …
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