Being Critical about Intelligence Studies: a New Research Agenda0

• Analysis
• February 7, 2022

In a recent CIPS podcast, Srdjan Vucetic, David Murakami Wood and myself discussed criticality in Intelligence Studies and Surveillance Studies. The question was simple enough: what does ‘critique’ mean in the context of both fields of scholarship?

To respond …

Bullying and the Ghosts of History0

• Analysis
• January 25, 2022

History never repeats exactly; there are always different nuances and circumstances.  Our understanding of the past, on which we apply any equivalence, is distorted by the perspectives of our time.  Reliance on historical analogy is therefore risky.  

The crisis in …

The Disinformation Industry – A Cure Worse than the Disease?0

• Analysis
• January 25, 2022

In April last year, several hundred people marched through the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in honour of the SS Galicia Division, a collaborationist Ukrainian unit from World War Two. The event provoked me to write a piece that was published on …

NATO vs. Putin: the Lessons of the Ukraine Crisis0

• Analysis
• January 18, 2022

These are extraordinary times in NATO-Russia relations. Among NATO members, fears of a Russian military offensive against Ukraine have  notbeen as heightened since the end of the Cold War.  In recent days, the world has witnessed marathon talks in Geneva …

Canada and the American Crisis0

• Analysis
• January 6, 2022

This New Year, Canadians seem to have woken up to the unpleasant realization that serious trouble may be brewing on their Southern border. The relief provided by reassuring tones of President Biden and the soothing blandness of his foreign policy …

What Should Canada Do for Afghanistan?0

• Analysis
• December 8, 2021

Despite no longer making the headlines, the situation in Afghanistan is a lot worse now than it was in August, when the world watched in horror as people fell off a military airplane leaving Kabul Airport.

What should Canada do …

What Would a Rights-Based Approach to Women’s Peace and Security Entail?0

• Analysis
• November 24, 2021

In my previous blog, I wrote that there is no evidence for instrumentalist claims about women and peace. Increasing participation of women in peacekeeping, in formal peace negotiations and in local peacebuilding activities does not make these activities more …

Adding Women May Not Help Keep the Peace0

• Analysis
• November 23, 2021

Instrumentalist claims about the Women Peace and Security (WPS) agenda do not bear out in the first systematic review on the topic.

Since the adoption of UNSC Resolution 1325 in October 2000, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda …

China-Canada Dialogue0

• Analysis
• November 15, 2021

A recent Globe and Mail story about the “China-Canada Track Two Dialogue” was a rare reveal of the kinds of dialogue that go on quietly around the world.  Even more revealing were comments about the participation and content of …

Global Migration, Activists-in-Exile, and Canada0

• Analysis
• November 8, 2021

Alongside the global existential challenge of Climate Change and the Coronavirus pandemic, which have come to dominate news headlines worldwide, there are the old but growing challenges of involuntary migration.  

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports 82.4 …

An Audacious Suggestion for the new Minister of Foreign Affairs: Help Canadians0

• Analysis
• November 8, 2021

Canada’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, has promised a combination of “humility and audacity” for Canadian foreign policy.  She will inevitably face a barrage of questions relating to important issues critical to Canadian foreign policy – from …

🏆 2021 Best Blog Award Winner❗️ Bidenomics Signals the End of the Third Way in Economic Policy0

• Analysis
• November 2, 2021

Biden’s first 100 days signals the end of the Third Way in economic and social policy. With massive investments proposed in social infrastructure and education, a willingness to take a positive-sum approach to budget deficits, and a commitment to fund …