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 …

Track Two Diplomacy at Sixty

• January 7, 2021

In the early 1960s, a scholar named John Burton sought to challenge realist theory related to the resolution of conflicts.  Burton, who had formerly been a high-ranking Australian diplomat, sought other ways to address deep-seated conflicts than through the application of …

The Ties that Bind? The Increasing Complexity and Indeterminacy of Inter-Governmental Organisations

• December 17, 2020

The State-based system of international governance that evolved from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 is struggling in the face of contemporary realities.  Today, developments in technology permit instantaneous movement of capital and information, quick movement of goods, and the simultaneous …

Selling Human Rights Due Diligence in Canada

• 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 …