Home
Analysis

Analysis

The End of the European Dream?0
- Analysis
- January 25, 2012
In a recent article in Foreign Policy, the Brussels-based journalist Gareth Harding argues that “the European Union was built on the myth that we are one people with one common destiny”. In his view, “[w]e are now discovering that …
READ MORE
Event Report: The Arab Spring, One Year Later 0
- Analysis
- January 24, 2012
On January 18, a CIPS discussion panel brought together Omar Ashour (Exeter University and Brookings Doha Centre), Barak Barfi (New America Foundation) and Peter Jones (University of Ottawa) to take stock of events in countries affected by the ‘Arab Spring’ …
READ MORE
If Only We Could Take the Politics Out….0
- Analysis
- January 23, 2012
‘If only we could take the politics out’ has become a ubiquitous cry in contemporary political life. This can be seen everywhere, but Barack Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline is a classic instance. It has been decried from …
READ MORE
Stephen Harper’s Worrying Words on Iran 0
- Analysis
- January 22, 2012
Is Prime Minister Stephen Harper preparing the Canadian public for a possible conflict with Iran? In two recent interviews (here and here), he has “raised the alarm” about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, which he views as …
READ MORE
Time for a ‘Grand Bargain’ in a Foreign Policy Review 0
- Analysis
- January 21, 2012
Officials are grinding away at a foreign policy review in the Lester B. Pearson building in Ottawa, although the motives appear unclear and the parameters are not yet public. But the time is right, since the Harper Government’s majority in …
READ MORE
Putting the Corporate Back Into CSR: A Rejoinder to Natalie Brender 0
- Analysis
- January 20, 2012
In a blog post yesterday, my colleague Natalie Brender rejected a recent Ottawa Citizen column’s condemnations of the use of CIDA funds to subsidize Canadian mining companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects in mining-affected communities in developing countries.

The crux …
READ MORE

CSR Funding is the Least of CIDA’s Woes 0
- Analysis
- January 19, 2012
A column in today’s Ottawa Citizen describes new levels of politicization, ineffectiveness and obfuscation at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). None of this is particularly surprising, since that agency’s misfortunes—largely due to its successive political masters—have been well-known for …
READ MORE
Libya Intervention of 2011: A Victory With Asterisks 0
- Analysis
- January 10, 2012
This article first appeared in the Winter 2011 issue of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute Quarterly Review.

The grotesque display of Muammar Qaddafi’s bloodied corpse in Sirte, Libya, where he was captured and killed, and later in …
READ MORE
La révolution conservatrice 0
- Analysis
- January 10, 2012
par Justin Massie

Quel bilan annuel peut-on dresser de la politique étrangère du gouvernement Harper ? Grâce à la majorité parlementaire obtenue en mai dernier, le premier ministre bénéficie d’une immense autonomie politique – une « dictature bienveillante » selon …
READ MORE
Nothing Much Will Change: the New U.S. Military Strategy 0
- Analysis
- January 10, 2012
The recently-published new U.S. military strategy, entitled Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense, attracted a great deal of attention last week, with some critics denouncing what they claimed were excessive cuts in defence spending, and others …
READ MORE
The Queen is the Canadian Crown 0
- Analysis
- January 10, 2012
by Philippe Lagassé

The full article was published in the Ottawa Citizen on January 9, 2012

Should Canada abandon its constitutional monarchy and become a republic? Several commentators and notable politicians think so.

Accustomed to seeing the monarchy as a …
READ MORE
Canadians Can Help Stop the Persecution of Iran’s Baha’i 0
- Analysis
- January 9, 2012
By Allan Rock and Lloyd Axworthy

With the eyes of the world on the Arab Spring, the populist struggles in Iran have faded from view. Yet some in Iran continue to face appalling levels of abuse, oppression, and injustice. The …
READ MORE