Armed conflict in the CAR: religion, identity, and political dialogue

• 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 …

Why Alexei Navalny Has Failed to Spark Revolution in Russia

• February 26, 2021

For the past few weeks, Russia-related news has been dominated by the story of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, the latest twist in the saga being a decision this week by Amnesty International to deprive Navalny of his status as a …

Peace in Afganistan: Deeper Level Dialogue Needed

• 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 …

The National Security Community’s Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

• 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 …

Gender Equality, LGBTQ2I People and Feminist Foreign Policy

• February 11, 2021

The Canadian government is currently preparing a Feminist Foreign Policy that seeks to better coordinate its disparate efforts to promote gender equality abroad. This process constitutes a valuable opportunity to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit …

The coup turns Myanmar’s fallen angel back into a freedom fighter

• 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 …

Why CANZUK Won’t Work

• February 1, 2021

“Get CANZUK Done,” Conservative leader Erin O’Toole tweeted last fall. The six-letter word is a call for a new four-country partnership or, as he calls it, a pact: “The world needs Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to …

Time for Donors to Drop President Museveni

• 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 …

The Last Boomer President? Three Game-Changers for #46

• January 20, 2021

The incoming Biden-Harris administration is positioned to serve as a no-nonsense clean-up crew and a bridge to the demographic future of the U.S., their most significant impact on the future course of the country, will be in the area of electoral …

Memorandum for the Minister for Foreign Affairs: Welcome to GAC! (Structural Challenges Ahead)

• January 17, 2021

This memorandum addresses key structural challenges within Global Affairs Canada (GAC).  You will have spoken to some of your predecessors about these issues.  None of them in the past five years tackled GAC’s problems seriously.  All of them, as a result, found their …

Trump-Inspired mob at U.S. Capitol Follows a Familiar Path of Election Violence

• 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 …