CIPS Director Rita Abrahamsen is joined by career diplomats Kerry Buck and Ulric Shannon (also a CIPS Research Fellow) to discuss his new report, "Competitive Expertise and Future Diplomacy: Subject-Matter Specialization in Generalist Foreign Ministries", which highlights the best practices that other foreign ministries have developed, which could be adapted to the needs of the Canadian diplomatic service as part of a future reform agenda, perhaps in response to the findings of the Senate or of Minister Joly’s Future of Diplomacy initiative. Read the full report here: https://www.cips-cepi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Competitive-Expertise-and-Future-Diplomacy-published-version.pdf Read a summary blog here: https://www.cips-cepi.ca/2022/09/06/the-future-of-the-canadian-foreign-service/ View a short video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA7f1QpHdp0&feature=emb_logo Erratum: in the podcast, we accidentally give the date for the last time a Global Affairs Deputy Minister as 2003. The correct date is 2010.

The term ‘Critical’ is seemingly ubiquitous in the academic research in international relations and related fields. In this episode of CIPS POD, host Srdjan Vucetic and guests, David Murakami Wood Hager and Ben Jaffel discuss what ‘critical’ means to them in the context of intelligence studies. Srdjan Vucetic teaches at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA-ÉSAPI), University of Ottawa. Research interests in international politics, foreign & defence policy, and the Yugoslav region. Co-Coordonnateur du Réseau en théorie internationale du Centre d’études en politiques internationales (CÉPI-CIPS). David Murakami Wood is the Director of the Surveillance Studies Centre, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, and most importantly the Incoming Professor of Critical Surveillance and Security Studies in the Dept of Criminology at uOttawa. He’s also Co-editor-in-Chief at the international, interdisciplinary, open access, peer-reviewed journal of Surveillance & Society. Hager Ben Jaffel is the CIPS Research Associate for 2021-2022. She holds a PhD in International Relations from King’s College London and specializes in the sociology of intelligence with a focus on police forces and Europe. Her first monograph Anglo-European Intelligence Cooperation: Britain in Europe, Europe in Britain (Routledge, 2019) explores Britain’s intelligence relations with Europe, by investigating the lived experiences of police personnel involved in counter-terrorism in European countries and EU internal security agencies.

Photo by Kirill Sharkovski on Unsplash (CC) Intro music: “England” by Pictures of the Floating World (CC) Host: Prof. Srdjan Vucetic (https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/1025) Guests: Prof. Ailsa Henderson (https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/ailsa-henderson) Prof. Richard Wyn Jones (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/330709-wyn-jones-richard) Dr. Ben Wellings (https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/ben-wellings) Check out: “Englishness: The Political Force Transforming Britain” - https://global.oup.com/academic/product/englishness-9780198870784?cc=ca&lang=en&

In this podcast, Jeffery Howard and Issac Taylor join Patti Tamara Lenard in considering the ethical questions that are raised by the pursuit of counter-terrorism policies in democratic states.  Jeff is an associate professor of political theory at University College London, and is currently on a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship.  His current project focuses on how to combat the varieties of harmful content online, including terrorist propaganda, hate speech, and disinformation. Isaac Taylor is an Associate Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Stockholm University.  Isaac's research interests are in moral and political philosophy, and particularly focus on how governments can pursue the security of their populations both effectively and ethically. His book, The Ethics of Counterterrorism (New York: Routledge, 2018), looked at what moral principles should guide state actors in their efforts to prevent terrorism.  The podcast is moderated by Wesley Walk, who is a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Wesley writes and comments extensively for the Canadian and international media on issues relating to intelligence, national security and terrorism. Learn more about our speakers: Patti Tamara Lenard https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/988/profile Wesley Walk https://cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/en/biography/wesley_wark Jeffery Howard https://www.ucl.ac.uk/political-science/people/dr-jeffrey-howard Issac Taylor https://www.su.se/english/profiles/izta7912-1.513533

With the US as an all-powerful neighbour and main trading partner, Canadian analyses of the US elections are naturally focused on what’s at stake for Canada and Canadians. But the November 2020 elections are also eagerly watched in other parts of the world, where the outcome could have important implications. With this series of podcasts, CIPS shifts the spotlight away from Canada to ask what’s at stake in the US elections for other regions of the world and for international cooperation more generally? In the sixth and final episode, Thomas Juneau asks what’s at stake for the Middle East in the forthcoming elections. His guests are Farea al-Muslimi and Dina Esfandiary, who together provide a thought-provoking and comprehensive analysis of the region’s past, present and future relationship with the US. For more information on our host and guests: Thomas Juneau: https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/1028 Farea al-Muslimi: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/farea-al-muslimi Dina Esfandiary: https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwizz6Cr77bsAhUMWs0KHTnPDaoQFjABegQIBRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.belfercenter.org%2Fperson%2Fdina-esfandiary&usg=AOvVaw1RqJU3-gLo0K5FDN9bi_4y

With the US as an all-powerful neighbour and main trading partner, Canadian analyses of the US elections are naturally focused on what’s at stake for Canada and Canadians. But the November 2020 elections are also eagerly watched in other parts of the world, where the outcome could have important implications. With this series of podcasts, CIPS shifts the spotlight away from Canada to ask what’s at stake in the US elections for other regions of the world and for international cooperation more generally? In this episode CIPS’ In the fifth episode, Alexandra Gheciu is joined by Rebecca Adler-Nissen and James Sperling to discuss the impact of the Trump Presidency on the EU and NATO, and to ask what the future holds for these two organizations depending on who becomes the 46th President of the United States. For more information on our host and guests: Alexandra Gheciu: https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/806/profile Rebecca Adler-Nissen https://images.ku.dk/people/rebecca/ James Sperling https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.researchgate.net/profile/James_Sperling/amp

With the US as an all-powerful neighbour and main trading partner, Canadian analyses of the US elections are naturally focused on what’s at stake for Canada and Canadians. But the November 2020 elections are also eagerly watched in other parts of the world, where the outcome could have important implications. With this series of podcasts, CIPS shifts the spotlight away from Canada to ask what’s at stake in the US elections for other regions of the world and for international cooperation more generally? In this episode CIPS’ Christopher W. Bishop talks to Shan Huang and Tosh Minohara on the topic of US policy towards and relations in Asia. For more information on our host and guests: Shan Huang is Deputy Managing Editor of Caixin Media, China's leading business and financial news service, where he oversees all international reporting.  He has also served as a visiting fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, and a senior research associate at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame.  He received his B.A. from Peking University, and holds an M.A. in political science from the University of Notre Dame. Tosh Minohara is Professor of US-Japan Relations at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, Kobe University where he also holds a joint appointment with the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies. He received his B.A. from University of California at Davis, and holds a Ph.D. from Kobe University. He also is the founder and chairman of the Research Institute of Indo-Pacific Affairs (RIIPA). In addition, he is a senior advisor to the consulting firm KREAB. He has been a visiting professor to many universities, of which the most recent has been to Jagiellonian University, Poland. Christopher W. Bishop is Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Canada and a research associate at the University of Ottawa Centre for International Policy Studies.  A career U.S. Foreign Service Officer, he is currently on a leave of absence from the Department of State.  He previously served at posts in China, Japan, and Taiwan, as well as in Washington, where he was Special Assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and later Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.

With the US as an all-powerful neighbour and main trading partner, Canadian analyses of the US elections are naturally focused on what’s at stake for Canada and Canadians. But the November 2020 elections are also eagerly watched in other parts of the world, where the outcome could have important implications. With this series of podcasts, CIPS shifts the spotlight away from Canad a to ask what’s at stake in the US elections for other regions of the world and for international cooperation more generally? In this episode CIPS’ Michael Williams speaks with Dr Michelle Bentley (Royal Holloway, UK) and Prof Brendon O’Connor (University of Sydney, Australia) on the topic of the US’ ‘Special Relationship’ with both countries. For more information on our host and guests: Prof Michael Williams: https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/959 Dr Michelle Bentley: https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/michelle-bentley(7cf349f5-bb36-46e8-8810-fa792348242c).html Prof Brendon O’Connor: http://www.ussc.edu.au/people/brendon-oconnor

With the US as an all-powerful neighbour and main trading partner, Canadian analyses of the US elections are naturally focused on what’s at stake for Canada and Canadians. But the November 2020 elections are also eagerly watched in other parts of the world, where the outcome could have important implications. With this series of podcasts, CIPS shifts the spotlight away from Canada to ask what’s at stake in the US elections for other regions of the world and for international cooperation more generally? In this episode CIPS’ Prof. Rita Abrahamsen hosts Prof Gilbert M Khadiagala (University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa) and Dr Comfort Ero (International Crisis Group) For more information on our host and guests please see the following: Prof Rita Abrahamsen: https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/996/profile Prof Gilbert Khadiagala: https://www.news.uct.ac.za/features/uct-africa-month/-article/2020-05-21-professor-gilbert-m-khadiagala Dr Comfort Ero: https://www.crisisgroup.org/who-we-are/people/comfort-ero

With the US as an all-powerful neighbour and main trading partner, Canadian analyses of the US elections are naturally focused on what’s at stake for Canada and Canadians. But the November 2020 elections are also eagerly watched in other parts of the world, where the outcome could have important implications. With this series of podcasts, CIPS shifts the spotlight away from Canada to ask what’s at stake in the US elections for other regions of the world and for international cooperation more generally? In this episode CIPS’ Dr. Ryan M. Katz-Rosene, hosts a discussion on the environment with Dr. Jessica Green (University of Toronto) and Dr. Matto Mildenberger (University of California Santa Barbara) Find more details about our host and guests here: Dr. Ryan M. Katz-Rosene: http://ryankatzrosene.ca/ Dr. Jessica Green: https://green.faculty.politics.utoronto.ca Dr. Matto Mildenberger: https://www.mattomildenberger.com/ you can also find Matt’s book here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/carbon-captured

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically and rapidly transformed our lives. It’s killed tens of thousands around the world, while the number of confirmed infections is in the millions. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has confirmed that all major economies have now entered a recession. Further, according to the International Labour Organisation, the pandemic is expected to wipe out the equivalent of nearly 200 million jobs worldwide as more than 4/5 of workers around the world are now in countries affected by some measure of lockdown. Workers in the informal sector - nearly 2/3 of the world’s labour force- are hardest hit and require income support just to survive. By the end of March nearly 1 million Canadians applied for Employment Insurance in one week - representing nearly 5% of the workforce and a new record. Similarly, record-breaking job losses are a reality across all five continents, while governments spend - or are promising to spend - truly eyewatering amounts of cash in an attempt to stop the bottom entirely falling out of our national and world economies. To try and get a grip on what this means in this podcast, CIPS’ blog editor, Philip Leech-Ngo, talks to two of the foremost experts in Canada’s political economy, CIPS’ own professor Jacqueline Best and Carleton University’s professor Randall Germain.

Virginia Eubanks, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany, SUNY, discusses her new book. Since the dawn of the digital age, decision-making in finance, employment, politics, health and human services has undergone revolutionary change. Today, automated systems—rather than humans—control which neighborhoods get policed, which families attain needed resources, and who is investigated for fraud. While we all live under this new regime of data, the most invasive and punitive systems are aimed at the poor. Automating Inequality systematically investigates the impacts of data mining, policy algorithms, and predictive risk models on poor and working-class people in America. The book is full of heart-wrenching and eye-opening stories, from a woman in Indiana whose benefits are literally cut off as she lays dying to a family in Pennsylvania in daily fear of losing their daughter because they fit a certain statistical profile.

Professor of public policy at Duke University and author of "The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship", Bruce W. Jentleson discusses his new book which presents thirteen profiles in statesmanship that reveal how transformative leaders, at pivotal moments in history, reshaped the modern world. At a time when peace seems elusive and conflict endemic, "The Peacemakers" makes a forceful and inspiring case for the continued relevance of statesmanship and diplomacy.

The Killing Season examines one of the largest and swiftest instances of mass killing and incarceration in the twentieth century—the shocking anti-leftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965–66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a million others in detention. Challenging conventional narratives, the book argues that the killing was the product of a deliberate campaign led by the Indonesian Army. It also details the critical role played by the United States, Britain, and other major powers in facilitating the mass murder and incarceration – and the more than 50 years of silence and inaction that followed. The Killing Season also engages wider theoretical debates about the logic and legacies of mass killing and incarceration, as well as the histories of human rights, US foreign policy, and the Cold War. Geoffrey Robinson is a Professor of History at UCLA where he teaches and writes about political violence, genocide, human rights, and mass incarceration

Wendy Wong discusses her book, "The Authority Trap," with Oskar Thoms.

This talk focuses on Robert Henry’s research with Indigenous men and women who were involved in street gangs. Through modified photovoice methods, Robert examines the ways in which Indigenous men and women engage in street lifestyles, where the street gang becomes a site of survivance challenging settler colonialism. Linkages between Canada, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Australia will also be examined to understand how settler colonialism impacts Indigenous street gang involvement. Robert Henry, Ph.D., is Métis from Prince Albert, SK and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, in the Department of Sociology. Robert’s research areas include Indigenous street gangs and gang theories, Indigenous masculinities, Indigenous and critical research methodologies, youth mental health, and visual research methods. Working closely with community partners, he published a collection of narratives from his Ph.D. research titled, Brighter Days Ahead (2014). Robert has also published in the areas of Indigenous masculinity, Indigenous health, youth subcultures, and criminal justice.

This book contends that practices are perhaps the most fundamental building-block of social reality. What then would social scientists’ research look like if they took this insight seriously? The book argues that to be effective, social-scientific inquiry requires the detailed empirical study of human practices. At the same time, it makes a case for the central place in social theory and the philosophy of the social sciences of a well-developed practice theory. To be sure, conventional research in the social sciences has always investigated regularities of human behaviour; yet its core assumptions, the author argues, leave it ill-equipped to cope with essential features of the phenomena it investigates. This book is thus devoted to examining what these generic features of human practices are. In the process, it also explores how practices are constituted; how they can be identified, characterised and explained; how they function in concrete contexts; and how they might change across time and space. Noting that existing versions of practice theory often face important analytical problems, the book attempts to construct a new, systematic account from the ground up. Along the way, it illustrates its arguments with many concrete examples from the history of war, politics and intellectual currents in Europe, as well as from various domains in the social sciences and everyday life. Kevin McMillan is an Associate Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa and co-coordinator of the International Theory Network (ITN). His research interests include IR theory, modern and early-modern international history, the evolution of the European states system since 1648, history of international thought, governance, practice theory and the philosophy of the social sciences.

Interview with Human Rights advocate and rookie MP Garnett Genuis

Conversation between Julian Go from Boston University & Kevin McMillan from the University of Ottawa.

The Arab World is currently undergoing rapid changes wrought by the ongoing Arab uprisings and the proliferation of violence and insecurity therein. For most researchers in/of the region, approaches in traditional security studies are insufficient and problematic in a context in which multiple and diverse forms of insecurity are present and expanding. This presentation will introduce a project that seeks to bring into conversation and productive dialogue the field of Critical Security Studies and researchers working in/on the Arab region. As such, it is premised on two assumptions that are of relevance to encouraging such dialogue: first, that the field of Critical Security Studies is missing important insights relevant to the field that could emanate from the region, and, second, that researchers working in/on the region are in need of frameworks, critical vocabularies, methodologies, and approaches that foster a critical appraisal of the security discourses and practices that have emerged in the Arab region. Samer Abboud is an Associate Professor of International Studies at Arcadia University, just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a Senior non-resident Fellow at the Center for Syrian Studies at St. Andrew’s University. He is the co-author (with Benjamin Muller) of Rethinking Hizballah: Authority, Legitimacy, Violence (Ashgate, 2012) and the author of Syria (Polity, 2015), which explores the dynamics and evolution of the Syrian conflict.