• Time for an Open Debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

    Time for an Open Debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

    On February 22, trade ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement will meet in Singapore. Reaching a final signed agreement is unlikely, given U.S. Congressional resistance to ‘fast tracking’ President Obama’s authority to sign off on behalf of the country. Indeed, there is a push-back from over 60 legislators representing seven

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  • Off to Tel Aviv: The Latest Strange Diplomatic Appointment

    Off to Tel Aviv: The Latest Strange Diplomatic Appointment

    Shortly before the Prime Minister’s January trip to the Middle East, the Harper Government announced its choice to fill Canada’s long-vacant ambassadorial chair in Tel Aviv. Vivian Bercovici—a Toronto lawyer, occasional commentator on Israeli affairs and backroom Tory loyalist—is the new head of mission. She was accorded a lukewarm but appropriate welcome to the Canadian

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  • Has Canada Finally Discovered Digital Diplomacy?

    Has Canada Finally Discovered Digital Diplomacy?

    After years of sitting on the sidelines, Canada finally seems to be taking social media seriously as tool of diplomacy. Foreign Minister John Baird delivered a speech on Friday—appropriately in Silicon Valley, the world’s capital of technological innovation—embracing digital diplomacy in stronger terms than ever before. “The closed world of démarches, summits, and diplomatic dinners,” he

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  • Diplomatic Prospects for Supporting Democracy Development

    Diplomatic Prospects for Supporting Democracy Development

    By Jeremy Kinsman, University of California and Ryerson University Jeremy Kinsman will be speaking at the CIPS panel ‘Is Democracy Rising or Receding?’ on February 14, 2014. From its inception in 2007, the international project A Diplomat’s Handbook for Democracy Development Support (now in its third edition) has produced a fact- and interview-based account of

    By CIPS
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