PhD Dissertation Defence: In the Line of Fire: Military Emissions, the National Security Exemption and NATO Expansion in Climate Governance
2025-11-20 12:30 - 16:30 (America/Toronto) | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Tamara Lorincz‘s dissertation defence.
Abstract
The end of the Cold War with the peace dividend and the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Earth Summit in 1992 created the ideal conditions for international cooperation on the threat of global warming. However, thirty years later, greenhouse gas emissions and military spending have risen to record levels. My dissertation puts military emissions, the national security exemption, and the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “in the line of fire” and critically examines them in the context of global climate governance.
I use a multimethod, qualitative research design that includes archival and Access to Information (ATI) records, field work, and interviews to investigate the international and national governance of military emissions. Militaries use vast amounts of fossil fuel and public funding for training and combat, but there has been a lack of oversight and transparency of their climate impacts. I use critical theory and critical discourse analysis that are framed by the salient concepts of primacy, security, militarism, and alliances to interpret the extensive material that I collected.
With the archives from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and the Library of Congress along with substantial supplementary material, I construct a historical narrative to show how and why the United States negotiated an exemption for military emissions at the third Conference of the Parties (COP) in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. The documents reveal that the Clinton-Gore administration pursued a national security provision to exempt military emissions as it contemporaneously planned the expansion of the military alliance that it dominates. My research uncovers the individuals, institutions, and interests that were involved and traces the geopolitical and climate impacts.
This historical analysis is complemented by field work at the COPs in Glasgow in 2021, Sharm el-Sheikh in 2022, and Dubai in 2023 where I investigated how the UNFCCC governs military emissions and how civil society organizations advocate for greater oversight. As well, I assess NATO’s governance of military emissions. Using ATI documents, I examine how Canada manages military emissions and carbon disclosure in defence procurement. In 1993, the Clinton-Gore administration launched the Joint Advanced Strike Technology program, which later evolved into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the costliest, most carbon-intensive weapons system in history. Air superiority and allied interoperability have been central to NATO strategy after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, but this has led to carbon lock-in. In the post-Cold War period, allies have used coercive air power to conduct interventions, which have had grave impacts on the targeted countries and the climate. I critique the military’s “green defence” and net-zero plans as governing practices.
The Clinton-Gore administration’s decision to exempt military emissions intersected with and was contingent upon the expansion of the U.S.-led military alliance, which has been consequential for climate governance. The war in Ukraine has focused attention and increased research on the climate damage of the military and the social cost of carbon from conflict, but the roots of the tragic war stem from NATO enlargement in the 1990s. I conclude that a new climate of peace and cooperation, through demilitarization and environmental peacebuilding, is urgently needed for the effective governance of military emissions and to ensure human security and survival as the climate crisis dangerously accelerates.
Supervisor: Dr. Timothy Donais
Committee: Dr. Simon Dalby, Dr. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger and Dr. Veronica Kitchen
Internal/External: Dr. Robert McLeman
External: Dr. Emily Gilbert, University of Toronto
Chairperson: Dr. Scott Ensign
If you are interested in attending in person, please email events@balsillieschool.ca. Please note that the virtual spaces have all been filled.

The University of the Future: A One-Day Symposium Exploring the Future of the University in Canada
2025-11-21 08:45 - 15:30 | In Person, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Hosted by Laurier’s Faculty of Arts during its centenary, join a one-day symposium exploring the future of the university in Canada – and the university of the future.
Ontario universities play an essential role in supporting student learning and engagement, fostering economic and social development, and driving research and innovation. Yet they are being called to adapt as technological changes and geopolitical shifts, among other developments, reshape our world. How can universities align with the needs of tomorrow’s workforce and society?
In Laurier’s Faculty of Arts – home to over 20 programs in the humanities and social sciences – this is a particularly compelling question. Our students are future leaders, changemakers, and problem-solvers. To prepare them to thrive, we need a deeper understanding of the world they are entering.
This event aims to bring together educators, policymakers, industry leaders, and community partners for a timely conversation about the evolving role of higher education in a rapidly changing world.
Learn more and Register Now

Afghanistan: Education and Human Rights in Crisis – Youth Advocacy and Global Justice for Afghan Women
2025-11-24 12:00 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Afghanistan today faces one of the gravest education and human rights crises of our time. Since August 2021, the Taliban’s return to power has reversed two decades of progress in women’s and girls’ education, employment, and public participation. At least 2.2 million girls are currently barred from school, and Afghan women are systematically excluded from universities, workplaces, and civic life. With nearly 63% of Afghans under the age of 25, the country is losing an entire generation of potential leaders, while over 80% of youth report symptoms of anxiety and depression.
This presentation examines the impact of gender apartheid in Afghanistan, highlighting both the local consequences, lost opportunities, silenced voices, and growing trauma and the global implications. The exclusion of women contributes to radicalization, projected economic losses of $9.6 billion by 2066, and mass migration that reshapes regional and international stability. It also threatens to normalize repression worldwide, weakening human rights standards and undermining the credibility of global governance.
Drawing from my work as with Afghans for Progressive Thinking (APT), I will share insights into how Afghan youth continue to resist through advocacy, education, and storytelling. I will also talk about the importance of global advocacy for supporting Afghan youth and women.
About the Speaker
Ajmal Ramyar is the Executive Director of Afghans for Progressive Thinking (APT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting youth leadership, education access, and human rights. He has over a decade of experience leading peacebuilding and advocacy initiatives across Afghanistan and internationally. Ajmal is currently pursuing a Master of International Public Policy (MIPP) at Balsillie School of International Affairs, specializing in Global Migration and Human Security. His research and advocacy focus on the intersection of education, youth participation, and women’s rights, with a particular emphasis on amplifying Afghan voices in global policy arenas.

TransCanada Power Corridor: A National Grid Uniting Canada
2025-11-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
This talk presents a vision for a continent-scale, east-west electricity transmission corridor, Canada’s next nation-building project for the twenty-first century. Drawing on the Balsillie School’s Special Report: TransCanada Power Corridor: A National Grid Uniting Canada, Dr. Nathwani will outline how a unified, high-voltage clean-energy grid can accelerate broad-based electrification in order to strengthen national sovereignty and enhance productivity cross-sectorally. The presentation will discuss Canada’s ‘rail’ path to deep decarbonization by 2050, powered by collaborative federalism, smart grids, and large-scale investment in hydro, nuclear, wind, and geothermal resources.
About the Speaker
Professor Jatin Nathwani is the founding Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) and the inaugural Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy (2007-2020) at the University of Waterloo.
He co-directs, with Professor Joachim Knebel (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) the Global Change Initiative – Affordable Energy for Humanity (AE4H), comprising 150+ leading STEM experts, social scientists, and practitioners from 50+ institutions in 30 countries committed to eradicating global energy poverty.
At the Balsillie School of International Affairs, he leads the research cluster ‘STEM for Global Resilience.’ At WISE, he led research initiatives on accelerating energy transitions for a zero-carbon economy through systems assessments of technology, financing strategies, risk management and public policy.
Prior to his academic appointment, Professor Nathwani worked in a leadership capacity in the Canadian energy sector for 30 years. He has provided policy advice to the federal and the provincial governments. As a key contributor to Ontario’s electricity system plans, he has played an important role in advancing environmental sustainability at all stages of planning. As the inaugural member of the ‘Energy Transition Network of Ontario (ETNO), he remains engaged at the interface of power system planning and the emergent digital economy.
Professor Nathwani serves on several Boards at the provincial and national levels and has appeared frequently in the media (print, TV, radio) and has more than 200 publications related to energy policy, environment, and risk management.

Governing AI in Universities: From Global Norms to Campus Policy
2025-11-26 12:00 - 13:00 | ON
This talk surveys higher education’s fast-evolving AI governance landscape, from international frameworks and national strategies to policies emerging at leading universities. It distills what actually impacts faculties: assessment and integrity rules, research governance and safety review, data and privacy, procurement and model risk, and oversight structures. The session offers a concise benchmark of workable models, common pitfalls (bans, unfunded mandates, policy-technology gaps), and a pragmatic blueprint to adapt for your courses, schools, and whole institutions.
About the Speaker
Dmytro Chumachenko is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematical Modelling and Artificial Intelligence of National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute” (Ukraine). Currently, he is a scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
Dmytro obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in “Applied Mathematics” and Master’s degrees in “Social Informatics” and “Project and Program Management” at the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute”. Dmytro obtained PhD degree in Systems and Means of Artificial Intelligence at the Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics and continued his research as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Ubiquitous Health Technologies Lab of the University of Waterloo.
Currently, he has appointments as a Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), a Research Affiliate at the University of Waterloo (Canada), a Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany) and an Invited Lecturer at the Wildau Technical University of Applied Sciences (Germany).
Dmytro is Chair of the Education and Science subcommittee of the Expert Committee on Artificial Intelligence Development under the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Chair of the Board of the Ukrainian Scientific and Educational IT Society. He also contributes to increasing the quality of IT higher education as a member of the Education Committee of the Kharkiv IT Cluster, an expert of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and an expert of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (Ukraine).
He is an Editor in Radioelectronics and Computer Systems journals and an Associate Editor in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Frontiers of Big Data, and Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence.
His research focuses on simulating the spread of infectious diseases and applying AI tools and methods for public health and strategic communications. During his appointment as Balsillie Scholar, his research addressed the investigation of data used for epidemic simulation from both technical and policy perspectives.

Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World
2025-11-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Due to the forecasted winter storm in our Region, we are moving this event to a virtual format. Please join us on the Zoom platform on Thursday, November 27th at 7pm.

Universality is the core promise of the human rights order born out of the devastation of World War II and the Holocaust: these rights extend to everyone, everywhere, at all times, without exception. But the cruel reality is that the word universal also screams of our profound failure to keep the promise. Too often, human rights are applied selectively, withdrawn on the whims of political leaders, or ignored altogether, and the broken promise is palpable in humanity’s darkest moments, not only in violent conflict, but also in the economic, political, and social structures of our fractured world.
This is not universality’s finest hour. At a time of immense global challenges, including the climate crisis, mass atrocities, and the rise of hate, the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is deeply contested and frayed, even as people demand and embrace their rights as never before.
Weaving together law, history, and stories from decades on the front lines of the struggle for human rights, Alex Neve investigates where we went wrong, how we have progressed, and what we can do to fulfill the promise that human rights are inherent, inalienable, and applicable to all people.
About the Speaker
Alex Neve is a lawyer with a Masters of International Human Rights Law, With Distinction, from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Dalhousie University in Canada.
Alex is presently an adjunct professor teaching in the area of international human rights with the law faculties at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and a Fellow with the Atlantic Human Rights Centre at St. Thomas University. He is a Barrister and Solicitor, and member of the Law Society of Ontario. Since June 2022 he has been serving as a Commissioner with the Ottawa People’s Commission on the Convoy Occupation.
He has worked extensively for Amnesty International in Canada and globally in a number of different roles. He has served as a Member of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board; worked at the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada; been a visiting professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University; practiced as a lawyer, primarily in the area of refugee law, in private practice and as staff lawyer with a community legal aid clinic; and was a member of the inaugural staff team that established the Sojourn House shelter for refugee claimants.

Voices that Matter: Kurdish Women at the Limits of Representation in Contemporary Turkey
2025-12-01 12:00 - 13:30 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
“Raise your voice!” and “Speak up!” are familiar refrains that assume, all too easily, that gaining voice will lead to empowerment, healing, and inclusion for marginalized subjects. Marlene Schäfers’s Voices That Matter reveals where such assumptions fall short, demonstrating that “raising one’s voice” is no straightforward path to emancipation but fraught with anxieties, dilemmas, and contradictions. In its attention to the voice as form, this book examines not only what voices say but also how they do so, focusing on Kurdish contexts where oral genres have a long, rich legacy. Examining the social labor that voices carry out as they sound, speak, and resonate, Schäfers shows that where new vocal practices arise, they produce new selves and practices of social relations. In Turkey, recent decades have seen Kurdish voices gain increasing moral and political value as metaphors of representation and resistance. Women’s voices, in particular, are understood as potent means to withstand patriarchal restrictions and political oppression. By ethnographically tracing the transformations in how Kurdish women relate to and employ their voices as a result of these shifts, Schäfers illustrates how contemporary politics foster not only new hopes and desires but also create novel vulnerabilities as they valorize, elicit, and discipline voice in the name of empowerment and liberation.
About the Speaker
Marlene Schäfers is associate professor at the Department of Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the impact of state violence on intimate and gendered lives, voice and memory, and the politics of death and the afterlife. She specializes in the anthropology of the Kurdish regions and modern Turkey. Her first monograph, Voices that Matter: Kurdish Women at the Limits of Representation in Contemporary Turkey, was published with the University of Chicago Press in 2023 and awarded the annual Book Prize of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association in 2024. Together Ergun Sibel Yücel, Marlene also co-authored a a Kurdish and Turkish-language biography of one of the Kurdish singers who inspired Voices that Matter, entitled Ez Gazîn Im: Jineke Dengbêj (Aram Publishers, 2021). Together with the Orient-Institut Istanbul she is currently involved in a project to digitize and make open access an archive of cassette tapes containing Kurdish women singers ’voices.

A Post-Pandemic Policy Forum: Building Food Security for Migrants and Refugees in Kitchener-Waterloo and Beyond
2025-12-04 12:00 - 16:00 | Room 1-42, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Join us for a half-day public forum at the Balsillie School of International Affairs that brings together community organizations, policymakers, researchers, and local refugee communities to explore how to build more inclusive and resilient food systems in Kitchener-Waterloo and beyond.
This event is cohosted by the MiFOOD Network and the International Migration Research Centre (IMRC). It is part of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded project that has examined the food security impacts of COVID-19 among migrants and refugees in Kitchener-Waterloo (Canada), Quito (Ecuador), and Cape Town (South Africa). The forum will feature presentations from research teams across the three countries. We will share findings from K-W, where refugee and migrant households faced deepened food insecurity but also demonstrated remarkable resilience through community networks and mutual support.
The event will facilitate policy dialogues with representatives from local food and migrant organizations, creating space for collaborative discussion on strengthening food access and social inclusion. Attendees are also invited to a photo exhibition showcasing powerful images and stories of food strategies from Somali and Syrian migrants in Kitchener-Waterloo. The program will be available soon.
This event is free and open to the public, and welcomes anyone interested in migration, refugee livelihoods, and food security. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

PhD Dissertation Defence: “The politics of survival: South-South migration, urban informality, Governance, and the food security nexus in Nairobi, Kenya”
2026-01-06 09:00 - 13:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Zack Ahmed‘s dissertation defence.
This dissertation contributes to the scholarship on South-South migration by integrating food security into the analysis of urban governance and migrant livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. While migration and development have been widely examined, their connection to food systems remains underexplored, particularly in urban settings where informality, displacement, and transnational mobility converge. The research addresses this gap by investigating how Somali migrants and refugees in Nairobi’s Eastleigh navigate food insecurity within overlapping systems of governance, inequality, and transnational exchange. It explores three dimensions: the structural and socio-economic determinants of migrant household food insecurity, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a governance shock disrupting informal food systems and remittance flows, and the intersectional factors such as gender, documentation, and household composition that shape differentiated experiences of adaptation and resilience.
The study employed a mixed-methods design grounded in critical realism and intersectional epistemology, combining quantitative household surveys (n=268) with qualitative life-history interviews (n=30) and key-informant consultations. Standardized food-security measures, including the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence (HFIAP), and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), were used to assess prevalence and severity, while qualitative narratives provided insight into the lived meanings of food insecurity, coping, and transnational obligation. The analysis revealed that 43 percent of Somali households were food secure, while nearly two in five experienced severe food insecurity. Income, education, gender, and employment status were the strongest predictors of household food security, and spatial disparities within Eastleigh highlighted uneven geographies of vulnerability shaped by policing, infrastructure, and tenancy.
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified these inequalities, with over 80 percent of households reporting income loss and two-thirds citing increased food expenses. Market closures and mobility restrictions disrupted informal trade and access to culturally appropriate food, exposing the fragility of migrant-dependent informal economies. Female-headed and undocumented households faced compounded deprivation but also demonstrated agency through community savings groups, remittance pooling, and collective coping mechanisms. The study situates these experiences within a multi-scalar theoretical framework combining Migration Systems Theory, Urban Informality, and Intersectionality-Livelihoods, showing how structural forces, governance regimes, and social hierarchies interact to produce and reproduce food insecurity in migrant communities.
The research makes four key contributions. First, it develops an integrated conceptual model linking migration, governance, and food systems, reframing urban food insecurity as a political and relational condition rather than a technical or humanitarian problem. Second, it advances Southern urban theory by showing that informality is not a symptom of governance failure but a central mode through which legality, access, and belonging are negotiated. Third, it introduces methodological innovation through a reflexive, mixed-methods design that combines standardized indices with culturally grounded narrative analysis. Fourth, it extends policy debates by positioning food security within frameworks of rights, inclusion, and urban citizenship.
Overall, the dissertation demonstrates that migration and food security are mutually constitutive processes. Mobility both mitigates and generates vulnerability within the unequal governance landscapes of African cities. For Somali migrants in Nairobi, food security is not only about access to food but also about recognition, stability, and belonging in an urban environment that simultaneously depends on and marginalizes them. The findings underscore the need for integrated urban and migration policies that recognize informal food systems, support women’s economic participation, and strengthen transnational safety nets. By situating these insights within the broader transformations of South-South migration and African urbanization, the study contributes to rethinking food security as a question of justice, governance, and everyday survival in the Global South.
Advisors: Dr. Jonathan Crush and Dr. Jenna Hennebry
Committee: Dr. Bruce Frayne
Internal/External: Dr. Alex Latta
External: Dr. Harald Bauder, Toronto Metropolitan University
Chairperson: Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad
If you are interested in attending virtually, please email events@balsillieschool.ca. Please note that virtual spaces are limited. Confirmation will be sent to selected attendees prior to the defence date.
