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Philip Leech
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The Rollback of Autonomy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong
- Analysis
- April 12, 2021
The world has watched in horror as Hong Kong is transformed from an open society with a liberal constitutional order into a repressive authoritarian regime.
Last year a new Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL) targeted freedom of expression with the …
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The Pandemic, Borders and Refugees
- Analysis
- March 18, 2021
The global response to the spread of COVID-19 teaches us that, although border closures may be critical to fighting the spread of disease, they cause harm, often irrevocable damage, to many of the world’s most vulnerable, namely refugees and asylum …
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The Forgotten History of Militant Conservatism in IR
- Analysis
- March 16, 2021
Even for those not listening, it is almost impossible not to hear the collective sigh of relief emanating from foreign policy elites across the globe. “Well,” they mutter (or cheer), “thank goodness that is over.” “That”, it hardly needs saying, …
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Armed conflict in the CAR: religion, identity, and political dialogue
- Analysis
- March 4, 2021
The Central African Republic is again engulfed by conflict. This time, the conflict centred on the Presidential election of December 2020. As the country prepared for the elections, the Constitutional Court rejected former President Bozizé’s candidacy. There were disagreements over …
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Peace in Afghanistan: Deeper Level Dialogue Needed
- Analysis
- February 23, 2021
The sustainability of any peace agreement is, to no small extent, a function of the inclusivity of the peace process that led to it. It also dependent on a widely shared notion that the status quo must be replaced in …
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The National Security Community’s Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Analysis
- February 18, 2021
We have completed almost a full year under severe restrictions required to limit the spread of COVID19, and the tunnel ahead is still dark. A global shutdown of this magnitude has few parallels in history. What will this do to …
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The coup turns Myanmar’s fallen angel back into a freedom fighter
- Analysis
- February 9, 2021
It was with a great sense of déjà vu that I heard of this week’s military coup in Myanmar, with early-morning arrests of the President and cabinet ministers, including national icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar’s generals are following a …
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Time for Donors to Drop President Museveni
- Analysis
- January 26, 2021
As the results from the Ugandan elections were announced, there was an overwhelming sense of dejà-vu. President Yoweri Museveni, in power for nearly 35 years, won with 58.6 percent of the vote. His main rival, the musician and Member of Parliament Bobi …
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Trump-Inspired mob at U.S. Capitol Follows a Familiar Path of Election Violence
- Analysis
- January 11, 2021
The siege of the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters follows identifiable paths and patterns of election violence seen around the world.
Election violence is rarely spontaneous. It is intentionally organized in order to influence the process and outcome …
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The Rise of African Philanthropy and International Development
- Analysis
- December 16, 2020
There is a significant change taking place across the global south, as international development agencies are taking a less prominent role in promoting development and democracy.
Over the past five years, various crises have undermined cooperation and cohesion in the …
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Selling Human Rights Due Diligence in Canada
- Analysis
- December 15, 2020
On 29 November, Swiss voters gathered for a referendum. They affirmed that the country’s constitution should be amended to impose human rights due diligence (HRDD) requirements on multinational firms headquartered in Switzerland. The proposed amendment, which would require companies to …
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Solitary Confinement in Canada’s Prisons: Time for Real Accountability
- Analysis
- November 26, 2020
Canada prides itself on a global image as a human rights champion. Yet, behind high prison walls, rights violations take place with impunity. Canada has a solitary confinement problem, and it needs to get fixed.
Solitary confinement was the brainchild …
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Réorganisation de la représentation du Québec dans le monde: Jouer la carte nordique
- Analysis
- November 23, 2020
Le Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie du Québec vient d’entrer dans une phase de réflexion pour recalibrer sa présence à l’étranger. Un redéploiement des bureaux et délégations québécoises est un exercice nécessaire afin de s’adapter aux …
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What Does the Coup in Mali Mean for UN Peacekeepers in the Country?
- Analysis
- November 19, 2020
On August 18th, officers from the Malian armed forces led a coup d’état against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and his government. They detained the President, his Prime Minister, and other senior officials, and forced Keïta (known by his …
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Unmasking Ignorance Reveals the Exercise of Political Power
- Analysis
- November 18, 2020
It’s not the kind of statement that comforts the faithful. Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, told a press conference last month that we are “steering in uncertain waters. No one knows exactly what is going …
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CIPS Special: Novels we recommend
For reading week this year we asked CIPS‘ distinguished members to recommend a novel to their students (and to all students of good writing).
Rita Abrahamsen: Director of CIPS and Professor of Public and International Affairs
For over twenty …
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To Understand China’s Aggressive Foreign Policy, Look at Its Domestic Politics
- Analysis
- October 21, 2020
In the past six months, Chinese foreign policy appears to have taken a dramatic and aggressive turn. China has lashed out at Australia for questioning its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, bolstered its claims in the South China Sea, stepped …
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Five Eyes Minus One: Thinking the Unthinkable
- Analysis
- October 19, 2020
The US National Security Agency (NSA) is by far the largest and best-resourced of the Five Eyes SIGINT partners. The four other members of the partnership, the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the Australian Signals …
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Should the Five Eyes Alliance be Expanded?
- Analysis
- October 19, 2020
The Five Eyes alliance has served the current partners well by giving them an expanded intelligence base. This benefit is enhanced by the opportunity for professional discussions amongst intelligence partner agencies.
All five nations maintain bilateral intelligence relationships with other …
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Huawei or Our Way?: Fissures in the Five Eyes Alliance in the Face of a Rising China
- Analysis
- October 16, 2020
After some wrangling, the Five Eyes member states have arrived at a common position on the use of Huawei technology in critical infrastructure. But the Huawei snafu is likely just the first of many challenges to alliance solidarity as an expansionist …
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Selling War and Peace: Syria and the Anglosphere
- Analysis
- October 15, 2020
I have been researching and writing about the Anglosphere for fifteen years. I just didn’t realize it for the first eight…
My first book, Selling the War on Terror: Foreign Policy Discourses After 9/11, grew out of my Ph.D. and analyzed the …
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The Anglosphere or Anglospheres? The English-Speaking World in Flux
- Analysis
- October 14, 2020
This short blog seeks to provide a more expansive understanding of the English-speaking world by identifying the complexities – or multiplicities – of the Anglosphere.
The Anglosphere has come to international prominence in the wake of the UK’s departure from …
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What’s beyond the Five Eyes? Britain’s European Trajectory
- Analysis
- October 13, 2020
Even before Brexit, Britain was often portrayed as reluctant to fully engage with European affairs. One potential reason for this, particularly when it comes to the matters of defence and intelligence, is Britain’s close relationship with the US and its …
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The Anglosphere mythscape in Australian prime ministers’ speeches
- Analysis
- October 8, 2020
How Australia’s national identity is or should be constituted has been at the centre of ongoing ‘cultural wars’ that are simultaneously social and political and, as yet, without resolution. Political leaders have been leading figures in these debates, combining retrospectives …
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Jan Smuts and the Racial Origins of Five Eyes
- Analysis
- October 8, 2020
Scholars typically place the origins of “Five Eyes” in the high-level cooperation that took place between the United States and the British Commonwealth during the Second World War. Yet the intellectual genesis of this international security partnership can be traced …
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New Zealand in the Five Eyes Intelligence Network: Assessing the Challenges and Benefits of Membership
- Analysis
- October 7, 2020
New Zealand has been seen as the weakest link in the FVEY as well as the “soft underbelly” with a population of 5 million people, NZ is a small state functioning within a series of military and economic arrangements dominated by …
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L’affaire CryptoLeaks et les implications pour le Canada
- Analysis
- October 6, 2020
Au cours de la période de la guerre froide, l’opposition entre le capitalisme et le communisme a conçu le nouvel ordre du monde. Les États-Unis ont été à la tête du camp capitaliste soutenus par de nombreux alliés. L’importance …
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Transforming the Five Eyes Community: Projecting Power in Cyberspace
- Analysis
- October 6, 2020
In the past decade, key events have found the Five Eyes – a largely unknown Anglo-American postwar signals intelligence partnership – navigating a new, prominent global role. These include the Snowden disclosures on US and allied surveillance programs, joint statements …
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Why does the US trust Australia with its Secrets? The Five Eyes Alliance, Race, and Loyalty
- Analysis
- October 2, 2020
In the immediate post-World War II period, Australia was included in the five eyes alliance. Why was this the case given Australia’s marginal importance to the US at the time?
Two years after fighting side-by-side in WWII, Australia failed to …
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From Insularity to Exteriority: How the Anglosphere is Shaping Global Governance
- Analysis
- October 1, 2020
Since the beginning of this century, the governments of the five Anglosphere countries, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), have steadily deepened their domestic policy collaboration.
Using exclusive and insular transgovernmental networks made …
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CIPS Blog Award: Voting Now Open!
- CIPS
- September 21, 2020
Last month we launched CIPS’ first annual blog award. In so doing we asked a group of three experienced and impartial experts to assess the more than 50 original blogs, written by 31 of Canada’s leading experts in international affairs, …
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Announcing the CIPS Annual Best Blog Award
- CIPS
- August 23, 2020
In the academic year 2019-20, CIPS published more than 50 original blogs, written by 31 of Canada’s leading experts in international affairs. The blogs posts covered a diversity of topics, including Canadian foreign policy, China and the West, war, peace, …
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A Genuine Human Rights-based Approach for Our Post-pandemic Future
When many governments are still willing to trade the lives of the vulnerable for the economic gains of the wealthiest, we need a human rights-based approach to our post-pandemic world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world we knew. It …
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The West Bank’s Fate Is Unknown as Netanyahu Stalls on Annexation
It’s mid-July, two weeks after what many in the international media believed was Israel’s start date for the annexation of large parts of the West Bank.
Many commentators, including me, tried to predict the next move by Israeli Prime Minister …
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Que faire des amis autoritaires du Canada ?
Peu avant l’élection des nouveaux membres non-permanents du Conseil de sécurité le mois dernier, le Premier ministre Justin Trudeau s’est entretenu avec le Président rwandais Paul Kagame. Le communiqué canadien produit à la suite de cette rencontre décrivait la relation …
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Human Rights Are Universal – Except If They Might Offend Someone?
It is shameful enough for a Canadian museum to deliberately hide its LGBTQ2+ content from certain visitors. However, when the museum in question is dedicated to human rights, such a decision is ten times more offensive and actually betrays the …
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Canada lost its bid for a UN Security Council seat. That’s a blessing in disguise
- Analysis
- June 20, 2020
A cold shower is a good thing. It has the immediate benefit of bringing one to one’s senses.In that way, Canada benefited this week in full view of the United Nations General Assembly as we lost a long-anticipated vote for …
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Can Canada Win a UN Security Council Seat?
- Analysis
- June 15, 2020
On June 17, 2020, Canada will seek election to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as one of the ten non-permanent members. If successful, Canada will serve as one of five countries elected this year for a two-year term ending …
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The Rohingya Genocide Is Far from Just a Dispute between The Gambia and Myanmar: Time for Canada to Join
- Analysis
- June 3, 2020
While the Rohingya continue to endure an ongoing genocide both inside and outside their homeland, several international legal mechanisms churn slowly in parallel.
The last two weeks have seen moments of progress. First, an Argentinian court decided to consider an …
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Israel-Palestine: Annexation Will Change Everything and Nothing
- Analysis
- May 14, 2020
On 29 April, Israelis celebrated the 72nd anniversary of the foundation of their state, while at the same time, on ‘Land Day,’ Palestinians mourned the Nakbah (catastrophe), which remembers the ethnic cleansing of some 700,000 people from their land in …
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Supporting African-Led Responses to COVID-19
The virus that causes COVID-19 has now reached Africa, a few weeks after it hit Europe and North America. Many analysts fear that the virus’s impact on the continent is nothing less than a “time bomb”, due to …
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Coronavirus Shows Why Canada Must Reduce Its Dependence on the U.S.
Canadian foreign policy has long embraced both a deep continental relationship with the United States and a devotion to liberal internationalism. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the time has come to re-evaluate our approach.
While Canada has been able …
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CIPS Special: What We Are Reading During Lockdown
- Other
- April 16, 2020
As a break from our normal – more serious – fare we asked CIPS‘ distinguished members to tell us about books they’re currently reading. We asked for one academic book and one novel. Some of our members also included recommendations …
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Time to Get the Two Michaels Home
- Analysis
- April 10, 2020
The advent of the COVID19 pandemic puts fresh pressure on the Canadian government to end the impasse that continues to hold two Canadians imprisoned as hostages in a Chinese jail. Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have now been in prison …
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Gaza’s Ongoing and Potential Calamity
- Analysis
- April 6, 2020
The first Palestinian fatality from COVID-19 was on 26 March. A sixty-year-old woman from Biddu, north of Jerusalem passed away as a result of the virus. By the end of March, some 117 people tested positive for the disease, though …
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Watching the Watchers: The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians in Action
- Analysis
- April 1, 2020
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) has had a brief and tumultuous life. It was under the gun from the start; once its authorizing legislation was passed in the summer of 2017 it had to get up …
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(Viral) Sands in the Wheels of Commerce? COVID-19 and the Future of International Economy Transactions
- Analysis
- March 30, 2020
When William Shakespeare coined the phrase ‘Beware the Ides of March’ in 1599, it is unlikely that he was considering how prophetic his words would appear just over 400 years later. When the history of the second decade of the …
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The Globality of Community-Based Conservation in Namibia
- Analysis
- March 27, 2020
Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) has emerged as a critical technique of resource governance in Southern Africa. It is intended to give control over specific natural resources such as freshwater, forests and forest products and wildlife populations and their habitat …
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China’s Coronavirus Victory?
- Analysis
- March 18, 2020
President Xi Jinping’s surprise visit to Wuhan—the epicentre of the global COVID-19 pandemic—on March 10 is a clear sign China’s party-state now believes it has the new coronavirus under control. Moreover, it is a signal China’s leaders believe their political …
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Teaching the Field of International Relations in Canada: A Focus on Journals
- Analysis
- March 11, 2020
The comprehensive examination is a rite of passage for those seeking PhDs in North America, laying out an intimidating list of the most important works in one’s field of study. The comprehensive examination process is a formative experience in multiple …
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The NPT Turns 50: A Mid-life Crisis?
- Analysis
- March 4, 2020
On March 5, the (Nuclear) Non-proliferation Treaty will turn 50-years old. Whether this will be an occasion for celebration or lamentation is an open question. The NPT’s once-in-five-year review conference will take place at UN HQ, April 27-May 22, and …
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Understanding Canada’s Middle East Policy in a Tumultuous 2020
- Analysis
- March 3, 2020
The new year began with two major crises in the Middle East, both of which have impacted Canadian policy and interests. First, the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by the US in Iraq precipitating the downing of Ukraine Airlines …
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Quelle nouvelle structure de gouvernance pour l’Arctique?
- Analysis
- February 13, 2020
At the end of January, the Arctic Frontiers conference, held in Norway, organized a discussion on the future of governance in the Arctic region. Some voices were raised to demand new regional structures of decision-making; these echo the wishes of …
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at Global Affairs Canada
- Analysis
- February 12, 2020
Justin Trudeau’s government starts its second mandate with a new look: slightly more subdued; more engaged on pressing national issues; seemingly less prone to putting communications ahead of policy, and more inclined to political realism rather than the naïve sloganeering …
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Disarmament Diplomacy in the Age of Putin and Trump
- Analysis
- February 11, 2020
UN officials are not usually given to overstatement, which makes the recent assessment by the UN’s top disarmament diplomat that “the barriers to the use of nuclear weapons are lower than they’ve been since the darkest days of the Cold …
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The Double-Edged Sword of Trafficking in Niger
- Analysis
- February 4, 2020
As African migrants continue to endure deadly voyages across the Mediterranean, efforts to curb this flow have centred on countries like Niger through which they transit.
Along with irregular migration, Niger is a trafficking hub for a range of substances …
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What Are the Benefits and Pitfalls of ‘Data-Driven’ Peacekeeping?
- Analysis
- January 9, 2020
The UN is committed to improving peace operations by making them more ‘data-driven,’ but the move toward systematic data analysis comes with practical, ethical, and political challenges.
UN peace operations face a variety of problems, but one of the most …
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Killing Suleimani: The Tricky Business of Predicting What Comes Next
- Analysis
- January 6, 2020
The killing of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani has triggered the writing of a plethora of op-eds and think-pieces. Many of these make bold predictions without, in fact, providing a great deal of factual basis to support them. In reality, it …
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What Do Canadians Think of China and the US?
- Analysis
- December 18, 2019
There’s support for contact with China despite worries and uncertainties and a lack of trust in the US, a University of British Columbia survey finds.
Amidst the diplomatic crisis affecting Canada-China relations that has followed the arrests of Huawei chief …
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Tunisie: Élection de Kais Saïed. Quel projet pour quelle réalité politico-juridique?
- Analysis
- December 13, 2019
Constitutionaliste de formation, Kais Saïed a remporté haut la main les élections présidentielles tunisiennes en récoltant 72% de l’ensemble des votants (57%). L’exercice électoral était digne d’une grande démocratie comme en témoignent les observateurs nationaux et internationaux. Cependant, de nombreuses …
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Causes and Results of Recent North Korea-US Negotiations
- Analysis
- December 3, 2019
In September 2017 US President, Donald Trump, and North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un were engaged in a furious interchange of insults and threats. However, less than a year later “Little rocket man” – as Trump called Kim in a speech …
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Priority One: Saving the Canadian Foreign Service
- Analysis
- November 28, 2019
The Canadian foreign service is in desperate condition. If the Trudeau government hopes to achieve its foreign policy objectives, its first priority should be a wholesale reform of Global Affairs Canada that focuses on the rejuvenation of the foreign service. …
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