Balsillie School of International Affairs

Book Launch: “A National Project: Syrian Refugee Resettlement in Canada”
2020-09-17 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Watch the recording of this event at https://youtu.be/2qBvofqxvag
The editors of A National Project: Syrian Refugee Resettlement in Canada [MCUP August 2020] and immigration experts discuss the experiences of refugees and receiving communities during Canada’s Operation Syrian Refugee from 2015 to 2016. They also offer key lessons to be learned from Canada’s program.
Featuring
Leah Hamilton is associate professor in the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University.
Luisa Veronis is associate professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics and research chair in immigration and Franco-Ontarian communities at the University of Ottawa.
Margaret Walton-Roberts is professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Balsillie School of Intenational Affairs.
With
Christopher Anderson is associate professor in the department of political science at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Bree Akesson is associate professor in the faculty of social work at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Audrey Macklin is professor and Director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto
Chair
Alison Mountz is professor of Geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University and Canada Research Chair in Global Migration.
Agenda
5:30 pm: Introduction by the chair, Alison Mountz
5:35 pm A National Project: A brief overview – Hamilton, Veronis and Walton-Roberts
5:50 pm Panelists response and observations regarding Canada’s Syrian refugee resettlement experience – Anderson, Akesson and Macklin
6:20 – 7pm Questions from the virtual audience

Global Insights: "Racism, Anti-oppression, and International Affairs"
2020-09-17 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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Link to webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84938231878?pwd=[REDACTED]
On 25 May 2020, the tragic and violent death of George Floyd at the hands of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, in Minneapolis, USA, triggered protests against police brutality and racial injustice, surging far beyond the national borders of the USA. Led by the Black Lives Matter movement, protests spanning continents and interpenetrating law and order, sports, schools, industry, academia, entertainment, and government, have revealed the profound depths of systemic racism, injustice, colonialism, and oppression upon which many established socio-political and economic systems are built and continue to function. Moreover, academic approaches to the study of politics and international affairs have also come under scrutiny for their racialized assumptions and biases. Yet new opportunities for self-examination, structural reform, reconciliation, alliance, and justice are arising. This Global Insights panel will explore these historically rooted contemporary problems and consider possibilities for solutions.
Panelists
Narendran Kumarakulasingam is a fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. He is the co-editor of Violence and the Third World in International Relations (Routledge, 2019) and guest editor of Decolonial Temporalities (special issue of Contexto Internacional, 2016).
Shadi Mokhtari is Assistant Professor at the School of International Service at American University where she specializes in human rights, Middle East Politics and Political Islam. She is the author of After Abu Ghraib: Exploring Human Rights in America and the Middle East (Cambridge, 2009), which was selected as the co-winner of the 2010 American Political Science Association Human Rights Section Best Book Award.
Akinyemi Oyawale is a Teaching Fellow in International Security and the course director for MA in International Relations at the University of Warwick. He holds a Bachelors in Politics and Psychology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a Masters in International Security from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in Politics from the University of East Anglia, Norwich. He was formerly an Associate Tutor in Politics and International Relations at the University of East Anglia until July 2019 where I won the Arts and Humanities Outreach and Public Engagement Prize in 2018 and was a finalist for the Arts and Humanities Teaching Prize in 2019. He is interested in investigating terrorism, counterterrorism, radicalisation, vernacular security, extremism and much broader aspects of international relations and security through a critical postcolonial perspective. His PhD thesis was titled: “The impact of (counter-) terrorism on public (in) security in Nigeria: a vernacular analysis”, and he is currently working on various projects on (in)security and Boko Haram in Nigeria and IR theory more broadly.
Junko Toriyama, is an associate professor at the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. She has been researching how people in Egypt, especially women, live their daily lives from the everyday-life perspective. Her research deploys Gender Studies, which problematizes inequality and people’s suffering through the lens of gender, being critical of established power relations and socially grounded categories such as Man/ Woman, and Cultural Anthropology, which attempts to comprehensively conceptualize human beings without judging differences.
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, BSIA

Five Considerations for a Sustainable Recovery
2020-09-16 11:00 - 12:15 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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The economic crisis wrought by COVID-19 requires a globally coordinated response that transforms how we think of the economy.
In joint partnership with the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), the Balsillie School of International Affairs is thrilled to co-host a special panel launching a highly anticipated paper by William White, formerly of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), examining five considerations for a sustainable recovery and future economic transformation. He will be joined by Robert Holzmann, governor of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austria), alongside Pierre Siklos, professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Danae Kyriakopoulou, chief economist and director of research at OMFIF
The panel will discuss and debate questions of: What ‘policy preconditions’ threaten sustainable growth? What future shocks threaten sustainable growth? What would a sustainable economy look like? What is needed to get from here to there? How can we make the right political choice between ‘unpalatable’ and ‘disastrous’?

Policy Analyst Recruitment and Development Program, Natural Resources Canada (2020)
2020-09-11 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
This event is for BSIA, UW and Laurier students.
The Policy Analyst Recruitment and Development Program (PARDP) is Natural Resources Canada’s signature accelerated development program for Master’s and Ph.D. graduates. Over the course of this program participants learn how to translate their already robust academic and external professional credentials into NRCan’s specific science & policy context. In this session, David Caughey, environmental policy analyst and BSIA graduate of the MAGG program, will walk you through the program and application process, and answer any questions relating to both PARDP or post-BSIA life with federal government. More information available at https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/nrcan/career-opportunities/programs-graduates/policy-analyst-recruitment-and-development-program/85
About the speaker
David Caughey is an environmental policy analyst, focusing particularly on the zero-carbon energy transition. This includes theories of transition, the R&D to demonstration to deployment process, multilateral / supranational regional coordination, international negotiations, and climate financing. He is a BSIA alum (MAGG 17/18) and did his internship with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law. He now works with the CanmetENERGY research centre in Varennes as the policy advisor to the Renewable Energy Integration research group. More information available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcaughey/

Global Insights: "China and The World: The Road Ahead"
2020-09-10 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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As the longstanding social and economic expansion of liberalism and globalization are weakening under the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the international system is witnessing a resurgence of nationalism, statecraft, and great power politics. Perhaps no state embodies this trend more than China, which has recently emerged as an economic and military power that many analysts believe could surpass the USA and its Western allies as a global leader. With the established global order in seeming disarray, China appears poised on the brink of transforming international affairs. Whether this transformation is in line with the West or against it, remains up for debate. This Global Insights panel explores the significant implications and possibilities of China’s relationship with the world and suggests possible scenarios ahead.
Featuring
Miwa Hirono, Ritsumeikan University
Zhenzhong Si, Balsillie School of International Affairs
Joseph Torigian, American University
Kailing Xie, University of Warwick
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Balsillie School of International Affairs

Orientation Day 2020
2020-09-03 09:00 - 10:45 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Orientation Day activities include a welcome by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, along with information about the School’s research and the BSIA-GAC program.
Agenda to be posted soon!
Registration is not required. The link to the session will be emailed to all incoming students.

LinkedIn Workshop
2020-08-10 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
This event is open to current and incoming BSIA students.
Now is a great time to update your LinkedIn profile! In this interactive workshop and video session, you will reflect on your skills and knowledge and the brand you want to represent on LinkedIn. In the workshop, you will identify ideas for your profile header, summary and images through a series of activities. The video will be sent to all registrants to watch prior to the interactive workshop.

PhD Dissertation Defence: "The Fox Building the Henhouse: Corporate Influence on Global Health Governance and the Risks to the World Health Organization
2020-07-28 13:00 - 16:00 | In Person, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Tracey Wagner-Rizvi‘s dissertation defence.
Abstract
Like global governance more generally, global health governance and the global health architecture are changing and, in the process, creating new kinds of openings for non-state actors (NSAs) such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and philanthropic organizations. This growing role for NSAs in global health governance has occurred at the same time as the World Health Organization (WHO) has turned to the private sector and philanthropic organizations for multistakeholder partnerships and voluntary contributions to bridge its budgetary gap due to some states capping their annual contributions. But without adequate safeguards, there is a risk that the increased influence of the private sector on global health policy-making, norm-setting and governance at the WHO can result in substantive policy shaped to prioritize profits over public interest and health outcomes. There are also risks for the WHO, as the global lead body on health, including the potential for conflicts of interest, damage to institutional reputation, and deeper reliance on private funding in ways that undermine the WHO’s mandate.
This dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: 1) In what ways have profit-oriented NSAs engaged with the WHO as a site of global health governance on substantive policies and paradigms that shape policy-making? 2) What are the implications for the WHO of the agency’s enhanced engagement with the private sector? This dissertation examines these questions broadly as well as through in-depth analyses of the specific cases of the baby food and soda industries.
The analysis in this dissertation finds that, despite their self-representation as trustworthy partners in addressing health issues, private sector actors have worked to influence substantive initiatives by the WHO related to the sale and consumption of their products. Private sector actors have also engaged in a long-game to shape paradigms that determine which policies are pursued and what role private actors are able to play in developing them. These paradigms create an environment conducive to companies and their associations, for example, arguing against regulation and in favour of voluntary measures and representing themselves as legitimate partners in developing health-related policy. Like other industries, the baby food and soda industries have pursued their substantive and long-term interests by drawing on a so-called “corporate playbook” of strategies and tactics to access and impact upon global health policy-making at the WHO. These strategies and tactics are iterative and mutually reinforcing.
Furthermore, in its efforts to bridge its budgetary gap, the WHO has potentially set itself up for even more in-depth influence by opening itself to fuller engagement through multistakeholder arrangements and PPPs. This fuller engagement has been formalized by the WHO’s Framework of engagement with non-state actors (FENSA). Analysis of the contested development of FENSA serves to highlight the types of issues against which the WHO must guard itself if it is not to undermine the agency’s independence, integrity, credibility and mandate. Although FENSA is ostensibly intended to safeguard against potential conflicts of interest, conflating “conflict of interest” with the different but related notion of “conflicting interests” leaves the WHO vulnerable to those very conflicts of interest and can lead the agency to greater, not less, influence from profit-based actor. As it continues to adopt a multistakeholder approach and widen its engagement with NSAs in order to address its financial challenges, the WHO is potentially setting itself up for greater dependence on for-profit entities, which can lead to further conflicts of interest and erosion of the WHO’s role as lead global health body.
Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Clapp
Committee: Dr. Rianne Mahon & Dan Gorman
Internal/external: Dr. Craig Janes (School of Public Health and Health Systems, UW)
External: Dr. Jeremy Youde (College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, Duluth)

Presentation of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Fox Building the Henhouse: Corporate Influence on Global Health Governance and the Risks to the World Health Organization
2020-07-16 14:00 - 15:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
The BSIA community is invited to Tracey Wagner-Rizvi’s ‘public presentation’ of her doctoral dissertation. Tracey’s dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: 1) In what ways have profit-oriented NSAs engaged with the WHO as a site of global health governance on substantive policies and paradigms that shape policy-making? 2) What are the implications for the WHO of the agency’s enhanced engagement with the private sector? This dissertation examines these questions broadly as well as through in-depth analyses of the specific cases of the baby food and soda industries. The formal dissertation, which is closed to the public, will take place on July 28th.
This event is open to BSIA faculty, postdocs, fellow and students (past and present). Please email events@balsillieschool.ca for the log in details.

Work Search Workshop
2020-07-13 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
This event is open to BSIA current and incoming students.
In this interactive workshop and video session where you will learn and discuss the value of making connections as part of a job search strategy. You will explore networking strategies and identify your own action plan. The workshop will include activities and questions related to work search. The video will be sent to all registrants to watch prior to the interactive workshop.

Global Insights: COVID-19 and the Future of International Order
2020-06-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Webinar link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86982414654
Register via Eventbrite

Pundits argued that the rules-based international order (RBIO) of the post World War II has been unraveling in the twenty-first century, a trend that is now being exacerbated by the pandemic. Panelists will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the RBIO, and speculate on what future may hold for the order in a post-pandemic world.
Panelists
Renske Doorenspleet, University of Warwick
Miles Kahler, American University
Abdul Mohammed, African Union High Level Panel
Michael Saward, University of Warwick
David Welch, University of Waterloo
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs
Global Insights is a weekly live-streamed, moderated panel series which provides different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Global Insights feature experts from the BSIA (Canada), the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the School of International Service at American University (USA), the Institute of Strategic Affairs in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany) – all leading institutions in the study of international affairs.
This collaborative effort draws on the views of intellectual leaders from various corners of the globe to contribute informed perspectives on a range of different global challenges both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

NEW DATE: Global Health Pandemics: COVID-19 Forward
2020-06-23 15:00 - 16:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Register via Eventbrite

This event is the second in the joint United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) and Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) International Issues Speakers’ Series. “Global Health Pandemics: COVID-19 Forward” is a must-attend look at critical emerging issues; featuring panelists who, together with their global networks, continue to undertake policy relevant research on issues relating to past, present and future global health pandemics.
Panelists
Dr. Sue Horton, Professor, Health Economics, University of Waterloo/BSIA
Dr. Peter Singer, Special Advisor to the Director-General, World Health Organization
Michael Pearson, Director General, Public Health Agency of Canada
Dr. Alan Whiteside, Professor, Global Health, Wilfrid Laurier University/BSIA
United Nations Association in Canada, President & CEO, Kathryn White: “This partnership with the Balsillie School brings new insights on pressing international issues to policy makers and takers as well as the next generation of global citizens.” Balsillie School of International Affairs Director Ann Fitz-Gerald: “This critically timed session will bring fresh insights to decision makers.”
As Canada stands together while apart, UNA-Canada and BSIA are pleased to bring together global health leaders, policy makers and stakeholders in industry, academia, government and young scholars for this virtual session.
The United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) is an historic, national charitable organization with 30,000 members, providing a leading policy voice on multilateralism in Canada. 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and of the United Nations itself. The founding Chapter begins ‘We the peoples…’ It is a call to action to build a better world for all. UNA-Canada was a founding member of the World Federation of United Nations Association and today holds an elected Vice-Presidency, representing global civil society.

Global Insights: COVID-19, Surveillance, Intelligence and Security
2020-06-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Register via Eventbrite

Webinar link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88426606441
Panelists
James Goldgeier is Professor of International Relations in the School of International Service at American University.
Florian Kerschbaum is the Executive Director of the Waterloo Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute and Associate Professor in the David R Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo.
Tom Sorell is Professor of Politics and Philosophy and Head of the Interdisciplinary Ethics Research Group in Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick.
Berhan Taye is Senior Policy Analyst and Globe Internet Shutdowns Lead at Access Now.
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs.

PhD Research Workshop
2020-06-18 09:30 - 12:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Please join us for a student-focused workshop where Environment and Resources Research Cluster PhD students will provide Flashtalks on their dissertation research, and receive faculty and audience feedback.
If you would like to participate in this Workshop, please contact Debora VanNijnatten, dvannijnatten@wlu.ca.

Global Insights: "COVID-19: War, Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution"
2020-06-11 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Link to webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87193150125
Register via Eventbrite

International experts discuss the implications of the pandemic on conflicts around the globe.
Featuring:
Chuck Call, American University
Solomon Dersso, Amani Africa
Timothy Donais, BSIA and Wilfrid Laurier University
Anthony King, University of Warwick
Julia Welland, University of Warwick
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs
About Global Insights
Global Insights is a weekly live-streamed, moderated panel series which provides different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Global Insights feature experts from the BSIA (Canada), the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the School of International Service at American University (USA), the Institute of Strategic Affairs in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany) – all leading institutions in the study of international affairs.
This collaborative effort draws on the views of intellectual leaders from various corners of the globe to contribute informed perspectives on a range of different global challenges both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Watch previous episodes and read weekly blogs at www.balsillieschool.ca/global-insights.

Global Insights: COVID-19 and Gender Divides
2020-06-04 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Link to webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87673225940
Panelists will share thoughts on a range of gender divides which have emerged/re-emerged as a result of the spread of COVID-19. The Panel will host experts from education, public health, employment, economic and migration perspectives.
Panelists
Juanita Elias, University of Warwick
Jenna Hennebry, BSIA and Wilfrid Laurier University
Sehin Teferra, Setaweet
Liane Wörner, University of Konstanz
Thespina (Nina) Yamanis, American University
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Balsillie School of International Affairs
About the Global Insights series
“Global Insights” is a weekly live-streamed, moderated panel series which provides different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Global Insights feature experts from the BSIA, the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the School of International Service at American University (US), the Institute of Strategic Affairs in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany) – all leading institutions in the study of international affairs.
This collaborative effort draws on the views of intellectual leaders from various corners of the globe to contribute informed perspectives on a range of different global challenges both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Future sessions will include themes such as The Changing Global Balance of Power; A New Concept of Security; The Future of Democracy; Federalism; Public Health; Technology Innovation; Data, Digitalisation & Governance; and Multilateralism and International Cooperation, and more.
The event is free and open to everyone.
Register Now via Eventbrite

Presentation of Doctoral Dissertation: “Between Aspiration and Reality: Governance, the APSA and the Conflict in Mali”
2020-06-03 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
The BSIA community is invited to Ousmane Diallo’s ‘public presentation’ of his doctoral dissertation. Ousmane’s dissertation examines the evolution of – and gaps within – Africa’s regional security governance architecture in the context of the ongoing conflict in Mali. The formal dissertation, which is closed to the public, will take place later in June.
This event is open to BSIA faculty, postdocs, fellow and students (past and present). Please email events@balsillieschool.ca for the log in details.

Sustainable and Climate Finance in China and Canada
2020-06-02 09:30 - 11:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Link to webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86070394134
Two of the globe’s leading experts on sustainable finance discuss recent global events and their impacts on sustainable and climate finance developments in Canada and in China.
About the speakers
Olaf Weber, Professor, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, University of Waterloo and Fellow at the Balsillie School
Christoph Nedopil Wang, Director Green Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Center, International Institute of Green Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics
Register Now via Eventbrite

Media and Communications Training
2020-06-01 10:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
During the virtual Media Coaching session, participants will receive personalized training using likely scenarios to prepare them to speak to the media with feedback to improve their skills. The goal of this session is to enable participants to pitch their story to the media and communicate confidently with stakeholders, with these key outcomes:

Develop key messaging in order to speak confidently.
Develop an action plan that works for a range of media outlets: TV interviews, newspaper reporters and more.
Stay ahead of your competitors and be an industry leader by learning to assess, monitor and measure media content.
Ask the questions the media are likely to ask and test you on the ones that are unexpected and challenging, including reactive response preparation.

About the facilitator
Melissa Durrell is one of Canada’s leading media training coaches to CEOs, government leaders, nonprofit directors, and start-ups. Beginning as an award-winning Canadian journalist, she launched a successful Communications + PR agency in 2011, and works with tech companies locally and globally to amplify their stories.
Please note that the event is only open to members of the Balsillie School community. The link to the session will be sent via email to all registrants on June 1st at 9:00am.

BSIA PhD Student Research Forum
2020-05-27 09:00 - 12:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
This event will showcase the current research of Balsillie School PhD students, with most presenters delivering papers that they would have given at the cancelled 2020 Conference of the International Studies Association in Honolulu.
Please note that the event is only open to members of the Balsillie School community and is not affiliated with the International Studies Association. To receive the link to this event, please email events@balsillieschool.ca.
Agenda

Re-thinking International Security in a Post-Pandemic Landscape
2020-05-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Link to webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89032763141
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on national and international security in ways that go beyond public health. Dr. Karin von Hippel, Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, UK, will provide a keynote guest presentation to help viewers understand the multifaceted implications of the transforming security landscape.
About the speaker
Dr Karin von Hippel became Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on 30 November 2015.
Karin von Hippel joined RUSI after serving for nearly six years in the US Department of State as a Senior Adviser in the Bureau of Counterterrorism, then as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, and finally, as Chief of Staff to General John Allen, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter-ISIL.
Prior to that, she co-directed the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC and was a senior research fellow at the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College London. She has also worked for the United Nations and the European Union in Somalia and Kosovo, and has direct experience in over two dozen conflict zones.
Dr von Hippel has numerous publications to her name, including Democracy by Force: US Military Intervention in the Post-Cold War World (2000), which was short-listed for the RUSI Westminster Medal in Military History. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, an MSt from Oxford University, and a BA from Yale University.
Register Now via Eventbrite

Low Carbon Transitions and Cities: Governance and Solutions
2020-05-21 14:30 - 16:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Watch this event at https://youtu.be/ofAaNMDTEkE
Join us for a conversation with climate thought leaders, David Miller and Sarah Burch, on the promise and obstacles for local communities to take meaningful action on climate change, including an introduction to David’s forthcoming book, Solved: How the World’s Great Cities are Fixing the Climate Crisis (UTP, Oct. 2020).
About the speakers
David Miller is the Director of International Diplomacy for the c40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the former mayor of Toronto.
Sarah Burch is the Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation.
Register Now via Eventbrite

Global Insights: "COVID-19: Migration, Refugees and Borders"
2020-05-21 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Link to webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86844800967
This week’s panel will discuss the immediate effects of COVID-19 on global migration, internal displacement and refugee protection, and what the pandemic might mean for the movement of peoples across borders in the future.
Panelists
Allehone Abebe is a Senior Legal Officer at UNHCR Liaison Office to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Maria Koinova is Reader in International Relations and chair of the British International Studies Association working group on the “International Politics of Migration, Refugees and Diaspora” at the University of Warwick (UK)
Alison Mountz is a geographer and Canada Research Chair in Global Migration at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada). Mountz directs Laurier’s International Migration Research Centre and edits the journal Politics & Space.
Tazreena Sajjad currently serves as Senior Professorial Lecturer in the Global Governance, Politics and Security (GGPS) Program in the School of International Service (SIS) at American University in Washington D.C. (USA)
Maurice Stierl is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Warwick (UK) and a member of the activist network ‘Alarm Phone’ which supports migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea.
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs.
About the Global Insights series
“Global Insights” is a weekly live-streamed, moderated panel series which provides different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Global Insights feature experts from the BSIA, the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the School of International Service at American University (US), the Institute of Strategic Affairs in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany) – all leading institutions in the study of international affairs.
This collaborative effort draws on the views of intellectual leaders from various corners of the globe to contribute informed perspectives on a range of different global challenges both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
All episodes are recorded and posted on the Global Insights page, along with a blog series based on the webinars.
Future sessions will include themes such as The Changing Global Balance of Power; A New Concept of Security; The Future of Democracy; Federalism; Public Health; Technology Innovation; Data, Digitalisation & Governance; and Multilateralism and International Cooperation, and more.
The event is free and open to everyone.
Register Now via Eventbrite

Global Insights: “COVID-19: Climate Change and Energy”
2020-05-14 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
The panel will examine the impact of the current Covid-19 crisis on the international climate change agenda. It will also discuss environmental justice and issues concerning the demand for new energy structures and cleaner technology.
Panelists
Simon Dalby is Professor Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, where he teaches in the Balsillie School of International Affairs. He is coeditor of Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (Routledge 2019) and author of Anthropocene Geopolitics (University of Ottawa Press 2020).
Selam Kidane Abebe is the legal adviser to the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) under the United Nations on Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She is also a Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholar in Climate Justice at the University of Reading. Before that, she led the policy and legal department of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forest of Ethiopia.
Caroline Kuzemko is an Associate Professor in the University of Warwick’s Politics and International Studies department. She is also the Deputy Leader of the UK Energy Research Centre’s Programme on ‘UK Energy in a Global Context’, and is widely published on the political economy of sustainable energy transitions.
Jatin Nathwani is Professor and the Inaugural Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy. He is the Executive Director, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Waterloo and a Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
Malini Ranganathan is Associate Professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC. Her research is focused on environmental and climate justice and the political economy of urban infrastructure and housing in both India and the United States.
Moderated by Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs.
About the Global Insights series
“Global Insights” is a weekly live-streamed, moderated panel series which provides different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Global Insights feature experts from the BSIA, the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the School of International Service at American University (US), the Institute of Strategic Affairs in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany) – all leading institutions in the study of international affairs.
This collaborative effort draws on the views of intellectual leaders from various corners of the globe to contribute informed perspectives on a range of different global challenges both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Future sessions will include themes such as The Changing Global Balance of Power; A New Concept of Security; The Future of Democracy; Federalism; Climate Change; Public Health; Technology Innovation; Data, Digitalisation & Governance; Migration and Mobility; and Multilateralism and International Cooperation, and more.
The event is free and open to everyone.
Register via Eventbrite

Global Insights: COVID-19 and the Global South
2020-05-07 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Link to webinar https://us02web.zoom.us/j/99480209384
Experts will share their evidence-based views on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the global south. Issues addressed will include elections, food security, migration, security, justice and human rights.
Featuring
Ann Fitz-Gerald (moderator), Balsillie School of International Affairs
Panelists
Jonathan Crush, BSIA and Wilfrid Laurier University, is an expert on migration, food security and hungry cities.
Briony Jones, University of Warwick, researches the nexus between development, peacebuilding and justice.
Hallelujah Lulie, Addis Ababa, researches African security and political elite bargaining.
Anja Osei, University of Konstanz, researches democratisation, electoral autocracy and African politics.
Shirin Rai, University of Warwick, researches gender, governance and development.
Rachel Robinson, American University, is a sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on global health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, including family planning, HIV/AIDS, and sexuality education.
About the Global Insights series
“Global Insights” is a weekly live-streamed, moderated panel series which provides different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Global Insights features experts from the BSIA, the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the School of International Service at American University (US), the Institute of Strategic Affairs in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany) – all leading institutions in the study of international affairs.
This collaborative effort draws on the views of intellectual leaders from various corners of the globe to contribute informed perspectives on a range of different global challenges both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Future sessions will include themes such as The Changing Global Balance of Power; A New Concept of Security; The Future of Democracy; Federalism; Climate Change; Public Health; Technology Innovation; Data, Digitalisation & Governance; Migration and Mobility; and Multilateralism and International Cooperation, and more.
The event is free and open to everyone.
Register via Eventbrite

Global Insights: "COVID-19: Stress-test for the Global Economy"
2020-04-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
View recording

On Thursday April 30, in collaboration with four of its global partners, the BSIA will launch “Global Insights” – a weekly live-streamed, moderated panel series which will provide different national and regional perspectives on big questions currently facing researchers, policymakers and planners worldwide in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Global Insights will feature experts from the BSIA, the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK), the School of International Service at American University (US), the Institute of Strategic Affairs in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and the Department of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany) – all leading institutions in the study of international affairs.
This collaborative effort draws on the views of intellectual leaders from various corners of the globe to contribute informed perspectives on a range of different global challenges both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Future sessions will include themes such as The Changing Global Balance of Power; A New Concept of Security; The Future of Democracy; Federalism; Climate Change; Public Health; Technology Innovation; Data, Digitalisation & Governance; Migration and Mobility; and Multilateralism and International Cooperation, and more.
The event is free and open to everyone.
Moderator: Ann Fitz-Gerald, BSIA
Speakers:

John Ravenhill is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, and the Chair of the Political Science Department. Having formerly served as the Director of the Balsillie School, John’s research focuses on global political economy.
Stephen J. Silvia is professor at American University’s School of International Service, and an affiliate professor in American University’s economics department. Prof. Silvia’s research specialty is comparative labor and employment relations, with a focus on Germany, the European Union and the United States.
Dr. Tewodros Makonnen serves as Country Economist at the International Growth Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His research focuses on macroeconomic issues including monetary policy and balance of payments.
Lena Rethel is Director of the Centre for the Study of Globalisation & Regionalisation and Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Warwick. She researches finance and development with an empirical focus on Southeast Asia and Islamic finance.

The Environmental Protection Agenda in a Post COVID-19 Policy Landscape
2020-04-28 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
This virtual event is open to BSIA faculty, fellows, postdoctoral fellows and students
As we settle into the “new normal” of professional and personal lives led in social isolation, it is important to turn our attention to how we might preserve the gains made in building out global and national environmental policy regimes in the face of unprecedented economic, social and political upheaval. Before the pandemic hit, many of us were engaged in research aimed at advancing environmental protection on a range of international and domestic policy fronts. Now, as we see governments at all levels mobilizing vast resources and expending precious political will to halt the pandemic and save lives, we wonder how public authorities will be able to follow through on environmental policy commitments made before COVID-19 made its appearance, let alone pursue the new programming we know is needed to fully address ecological challenges.
Each Zoom Policy Discussion in the new series will focus on a particular aspect of the environmental agenda and address three questions: what was the state of policy play on the issue before the pandemic hit; what impacts is the COVID-19 crisis having on policy dynamics; and what strategies might be suggested for pushing policy forward in an altered, post-COVID-19 world?
The Series will kick off with reflections on Global and Canadian Climate Policy, and will be led by the Co-Leads of the Environment & Resources Cluster, Prof. Neil Craik, School of Environment, Enterprise & Development, University of Waterloo and Prof. Debora VanNijnatten, Political Science and North American Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University.
Zoom Policy Discussions will take place every two weeks, at 2-3 pm on Tuesday afternoons, beginning on April 28th.
To receive the link to the virtual event, please email events@balsillieschool.ca.

CANCELLED: Branding Global Workers and Prospects for Belonging in Canada
2020-03-26 12:00 - 13:30 | In Person, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
This event has been cancelled.
Drawing from comparative, international field research examining fast food labour migration from the Philippines and Mexico to western Canada, in this talk Dr. Polanco examines why the Philippines is outpacing countries like Mexico for employment in the fast food sector. She explores the distinct criterion which have been applied in the recruitment of Filipino and Mexican temporary workers, and how intermediaries in the sending context have responded to and stimulated demands for fast food labour. In so doing, Dr. Polanco finds that there is a competitive dimension to supplying international labour markets, and that a prime advantage that the Philippines has over countries like Mexico is its highly regulated migration apparatus, and willingness to transnationally deskill its nationals for employment in entry level occupations. This commercialization of flows can have the (unintended) consequence of branding national workforces, with Filipinos appearing a more apt subject for interactive occupations. This further shapes who is eventually considered suitable for belonging in Canada. Beyond Canada, these processes have broader implications not only to the inability of some states to leverage migration for development, but also to the global gendering and racialization of people and nations through temporary migrant worker programs.
About the speaker
Geraldina Polanco is an Assistant Professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University.

CANCELLED: 2020 Prospective Student Open House
2020-03-20 13:00 - 16:30 | In Person, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
This event has been cancelled.
The Balsillie School welcomes prospective students to tour the campus, and meet faculty, alumni and current students.
Draft Agenda
1:00 – 1:15 PM Registration and refreshments
1:15 – 1:30 PM Welcome
1:30 – 2:30 PM Faculty panel
2:30 – 2:45 PM Break
2:45 – 3:45 PM Alumni panel
3:45 – 4:00 PM School tour with current students

CANCELLED: Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action for Women: Advancing Equality, Peace and Development
2020-03-19 15:30 - 17:00 | In Person, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
This event has been cancelled.
Come to learn about the historic Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights that was unanimously adopted by 189 countries at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, and how women’s groups and feminists are mobilizing today at the national and international level to mark the 25th anniversary this year. Find out about the new report “Unfinished Business: A Parallel Report on Canada’s Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.” The report was produced by a network of more than 50 women’s rights and equality-seeking organizations, trade unions and independent experts representing millions of members from across the country. Share ideas about how we can achieve gender equality and move forward women’s and girl’s rights. An event to celebrate International Women’s Day. All welcome.
“Unfinished Business: A Parallel Report on Canada’s Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action” report
UN Commission on the Status of Women Beijing +25 Realizing Gender Equality and Advancing the Rights of All Women and Girls
About the speakers
Dr. Sheila Ager is a Full Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a Research Associate with the Waterloo Institute for Hellenistic Studies. She is the author or editor of three books (Interstate Arbitrations in the Greek World, Belonging and Isolation in the Hellenistic World [co-edited with Riemer Faber], and A Cultural History of Peace in Antiquity), as well as numerous articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. Sheila’s research interests focus in particular on the areas of interstate relations and peaceful conflict resolution in the Greco-Roman world, as well as the construction of Hellenistic monarchy, especially the role of royal women. She has been at the University of Waterloo since 1987, where she has served multiple terms as Department Chair and as Associate Dean; in July of 2019, Sheila became Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

Dr. Alana Cattapan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo. A long-time feminist researcher and activist, she studies gendered inclusion in policy making, identifying links between the state, reproductive politics, and the commercialization of the body. She is also a Board Member of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, and in the organizing group of Rise Up! A Digital Archive of Feminist Activism. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, Dr. Cattapan was a faculty member at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan, and a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow at Novel Tech Ethics in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University. She is the co-editor of Surrogacy in Canada (Irwin Law, 2018). She is a participant in the Canadian Beijing +25 Network and wrote the chapter “Gender and Health” of the report entitled “Unfinished Business: A Parallel Report on Canada’s Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.”

Dr. Jasmin Habib is the Director of the PhD in Global Governance and Associate Chair in Political Science (Undergraduate Affairs). Jasmin Habib hold a Ph.D. in Anthropology and an M.A. in International Peace Studies. Her research publications focus on the politics of empire and the practices of decolonization with primary interest in the experiences of war-affected refugees now living in Israel, Palestine, Canada and the United States; indigenous practices and relations of autonomy in North America; and the architecture of consent for contemporary state violence (systemic and direct). Dr. Habib is General Editor of the Cultural Spaces Series at the University of Toronto Press and past-Editor-in-Chief and Anglophone Editor of Anthropologica, the flagship journal of the Canadian Anthropology Society.

Dr. Karen Stote is Assistant Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. She teaches courses on Indigenous-settler relations, feminism and the politics of decolonization, and reproductive and environmental justice. She researches and writes on the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in Canada and what it means to decolonize feminism. Her first book, An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women in Canada (Fernwood Publishing, 2015), is an in depth study of the history of this practice in Canada. In response to more than one hundred recent allegations of coerced sterilization made by Indigenous women, she has appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health in their investigations of the issue. Her current SSHRC IDG funded research considers the context informing the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in modern times by examining federal-provincial intersections in family planning policy and practice in Canada since the 1970s.
Moderator
Tamara Lorincz is a PhD Candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. She is also a member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She is a participant in the Canadian Beijing +25 Network, the Women Peace and Security Network in Canada, and the UN Feminist and Women’s Action Network. Tamara contributed to the chapter “Canada and Foreign Policy” in the report “Unfinished Business: A Parallel Report on Canada’s Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.”
