Balsillie School of International Affairs

Curing the World from Injustices? Norm Failures in the Case of Humanitarian Arms Control
2019-04-04 12:15 - 13:30 (America/Toronto) | In Person, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Justice as a motive plays a powerful role in many scientific disciplines, such as in Political Theory, International Law or International Relations. While these disciplines draw on justice issues in very different ways, some common features can also be identified. Beyond this theoretical perspective, justice motives work in political practice as a powerful engine for norm-building efforts. Humanitarian and human rights motives provided actors with persuasive arguments triggering initiatives on humanitarian arms control. In the negotiations of the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons as well as on the Arms Trade Treaty, states were unable to agree on crucial norms which inhibit the effective implementation of both global governance agreements.
About the speaker
Dr. Simone Wisotzki is a Project Director and Member of Executive Board at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). Her research areas include international ethics, humanitarian arms control, arms exports, and gender studies. She is a consultant to the German government and parliament and has been a member of the German delegation to the BMS and Review Conferences of the United Nations Program of Action on the Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (UNPoA).

Socio-Cultural and Political Implications of Artificial Intelligence Summit
2019-04-03 18:30 - 2019-04-04 17:00
This two day Summit will showcase the research of Global Engagement Seminar (GES) Program students. Interactive student exhibitions will be on display, inviting participation from the broader Waterloo community. We hope to engage in important conversations about the impacts of Artificial Intelligence, such as automation of jobs, corporate ownership, biases of algorithms and privacy concerns. The objective is to contribute towards the development of meaningful responses to timely global issues.
The summit also includes the round table discussion, “Why Artificial Intelligence Matters” and keynote addresses “Artificial Intelligence and The Future of Work” featuring David Jones and “What is Missing is Still There” featuring Mimi Onuoha. For more details, visit https://uwaterloo.ca/global-engagement-program/events/2019-summit
Please register at https://gesprogram-summit.eventbrite.ca for one or more of the following:
April 3, 6:30pm – Roundtable and Reception
April 4, 10:00am – Student Exhibitions, Lunch and Keynote (David Jones)
April 4, 2:00pm – Student Exhibitions, Dinner and Keynote (Mimi Onuoha)
April 4, 6:30pm – Student Presentations and Reception
The GES Program brings together students from across all six University faculties. It applies methods drawn from diverse disciplines to study global problems where politics, economics, science, philosophy, history, and technology intersect.

CANCELLED: Mobilities, Medications, and Institutional Mazes: Ethical and Practical Dilemmas for People with Illness and Disability
2019-04-01 11:30 - 13:00
This event has been cancelled.
If the late Stephen Hawking had wanted to settle in Canada, he would likely have been denied. This is because he was disabled. Federal immigration law and policy exclude people with illness and disability on medical grounds. This is referred to as medical inadmissibility. Dr. Bisaillon examines impediments to migration and mobility produced through health related policies at federal and both inter- and intra-provincial levels. These lines of inquiry are conceptually connected by their location at the “medico-legal borderlands”: interdisciplinary spaces of professional practice and intellectual inquiry where the institutions of law and policy, medicine and health care, and social services and immigration co-exist and overlap. Examining both the broader social implications, and lived experiences, this talk examines medical inadmissibility in Canadian federal immigration law alongside the gaps in provincial health and social care, and pharmaceutical coverage, that people with illness or disability face.
About the speaker
Dr. Laura Bisaillon is a leading social scientist of medical inadmissibility and HIV-related policy in Canadian immigration law. She is Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Health and Society at the University of Toronto. Her research asks questions at the “medico-legal borderlands” and illuminates how state interests affect health care processes, provider practices, and individuals in their roles as patients and migrants. Her award winning dissertation has been reformulated into a book, “Screening and Screaming in Exile: Medical Examination and the Immigration Health Work of People with HIV”, currently under review with the University of British Columbia Press. Dr. Bisaillon’s broader work examines medico-legal borderlands in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran and most recently Romania.

PhD Dissertation Defence: Refugees from Syria Caught Between War and Borders: A Journey Towards Protection
2019-04-01 10:00 - 13:00
Maissaa Almustafa‘s PhD Dissertation Defence, “Refugees from Syria Caught Between War and Borders: A Journey Towards Protection”.
Advisor: Kim Rygiel
Committee: Suzan Ilcan, Jasmin Habib
Internal/external examiner: Bree Akesson, Wilfrid Laurier University
External examiner: Heather Johnson, Queen’s University, Belfast
Abstract

Pre-Summit Keynote: Socio-Cultural and Political Implications of Artificial Intelligence
2019-03-29 19:00 - 21:30
Register via Eventbrite

A Renaissance Man for the 21st century, Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, artist, and author who writes on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technology, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism.
A pioneer in virtual reality (a term he coined), Lanier founded VPL Research, the first company to sell VR products, and led teams creating VR applications for medicine, design, and numerous other fields.
In 2010, Lanier was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. In recent years he has also been named one of top one hundred public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine, one of the top 50 World Thinkers by Prospect magazine, and one of history’s 300 or so greatest inventors in the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 2009 Jaron Lanier received a Lifetime Career Award from the IEEE, the preeminent international engineering society.
Can’t make it to the event? Watch it live here.

Trade Agreements and Access to Affordable Medicines: From the TRIPS Agreement to the USMCA
2019-03-26 11:45 - 13:00
In 1995, the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement ushered in a global regime of intellectual property rights that was widely criticised for placing medicines out of reach for large parts of the world’s population. A host of bilateral and regional free trade agreements negotiated since this time have further extended and expanded intellectual property rights for pharmaceuticals in many countries, delaying the market entry of generic medicines. This trend has continued largely unabated in recent years, despite the increasing strain high cost medicines are placing on pharmaceutical budgets even in high-income countries. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA or NAFTA 2.0) is the latest example. Building on provisions from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that were suspended by the other parties after the withdrawal of the United States, the USMCA goes further, mandating a special 10-year market exclusivity period for biologic medicines, which include many new cancer and immunotherapy treatments. This presentation traces the evolution of provisions in trade agreements with implications for access to medicines, culminating in the USMCA, and examines the potential impacts, particularly for access to high cost biologics.
About the speaker
Dr Deborah Gleeson is a senior lecturer in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University, Australia, and an Associate at La Trobe University’s Centre for Health Law and Society. Deborah holds a Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion, a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Health Policy. The main focus of her research is the interface between trade and investment agreements and public health, and she has more than 30 peer-reviewed publications on this topic, covering a range of topic areas including access to affordable medicines, alcohol and tobacco policy, and food and nutrition. Deborah co-convenes the Political Economy of Health Special Interest Group of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and frequently represents PHAA on matters related to trade and health. She received a PHAA President’s Award 2015 for public health leadership, engagement and commitment on the impact of international trade issues on public health.

Protecting Canada from the Threat of Populism
2019-03-25 19:00 - 21:00
Register via Eventbrite
Ben Rowswell, the Canadian International Council (CIC) President and Research Director, will draw on his observations of populism in Venezuela, the United Kingdom and the United States to argue that it represents a rival form of politics to democracy. He will demonstrate how misleading and hostile perceptions of the international system are a mainstay of populist politics, and will issue a call to all Canadians to engage in informed and respectful debate about international relations as a means to uphold our democratic traditions.
About the speaker
Ben Rowswell was appointed President and Research Director of the Canadian International Council on November 19, 2018.
Ben has 25 years of experience as a practitioner of international relations. He earned his expertise in international security serving with the United Nations in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993, as Canada’s first diplomatic envoy to Baghdad, Iraq, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and as the head of the NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar at the height of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan.
Ben has advised top levels of government on international strategy in the Privy Council Office during the tenures of Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper, and at the Washington DC Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2003 to 2004.
But his abiding passion is the defence of human rights and democracy. He established the Democracy Unit of Global Affairs Canada, worked closely with human rights movements as a political officer in the Canadian Embassy to Egypt, and most recently as Canada’s Ambassador to Venezuela from 2014 to 2017.
Throughout his career, Ben has sought to engage citizens in the practice of international relations. After a fellowship at Stanford University that introduced him to the powerful role that individuals can play in global affairs, he pioneered the practice of digital diplomacy at Global Affairs Canada. This same passion led him to join Farhaan Ladhani in founding software startup called Betterplace, which tailors opportunities for citizens to engage in civic action through a mobile app.
This event is co-sponsored by the Canadian International Council and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Rethinking IR and IPE Research Workshop
2019-03-25 10:00 - 13:00
The aim of this workshop on rethinking International Relations and International Political Economy research is to discuss methodologies, ontologies and epistemologies that converse with and challenge mainstream approaches to International Relations and IPE research.
Speakers
“Beyond Eurocentric IPE history: the non-Listian origins of East Asian neomercantilism”
– Eric Helleiner, University of Waterloo
“What Andean Philosophy Can Teach Us about Ontology in IR”
– Tamara Ann Trownsell, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
“Considering the Environment in the Future of Feminist IPE”
– Andrea M. Collins, University of Waterloo
“Identity, Regime Change and Ontological Security”
– Edelgard Mahant, York University
“Considering the Environment in the Future of Feminist IPE”
– Andrea Collins, University of Waterloo
“Sociology as critique. The methodology of critically analysing structures of power in global governance”
– Catherine Goetze, University of Tasmania
“The state of methodology in International Studies and International Relations postgraduate teaching in South America”
– Raul Salgado Espinoza and Ernesto Vivares, Flasco-Ecuador
Moderator: Cheryl Martens, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Workshop Abstracts and Speaker Bios

Global Health: Bridging the Disciplinary Divides Workshop
2019-03-25 08:00 - 2019-03-26 17:00
The BSIA is hosting a two day workshop from March 25-26, 2019. The theme of the workshop is “Global Health: Bridging the Disciplinary Divides.” The objective of the workshop is to examine how different disciplines approach, analyse and understand key global health challenges; if and how these different approaches impede research and policy progress; and how to overcome interdisciplinary divisions to make progress in research and policy on global health issues. We hope that the outcomes of the conference will include journal articles as well as the establishment of an International Consortium on Social Science and Global Health.
The workshop will begin with a plenary session to discuss the challenges of interdisciplinary research as well as policy action. It then will break into three smaller thematic groups: mental health, governance of medicines, and the deliberate targeting of health workers during violent conflict.
The organizers include Karen Grepin (BSIA), Valerie Percival (NPSIA), Amy Patterson (University of the South), Garrett Wallace Brown (Leeds), Owain Williams (University of Queensland), and James Orbinski (York University). The workshop is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Balsillie School of International Affairs, the University of Leeds, the University of the South, and Carleton University.
We would be pleased to welcome participation from BSIA faculty and PhD students with interests in interdisciplinary research, global health research, or any of the associated themes. There is no formal presentation required for your participation. Prior to the workshop, participants will be sent a list of questions to address, such as: What are the key research challenges in your field? How does your discipline study this issue? What are the key policy challenges? What are the key obstacles to progress in both research and policy? How do interdisciplinary challenges affect research, as well as policy or programs?
If you are interested in participating, please contact one of the workshop organizers, Amber Warnat at AmberWarnat@cmail.carleton.ca, who will provide you with the agenda and other details on the workshop.

Setting Up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
2019-03-21 12:00 - 13:30
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) opened for business in 2016, as a $100 billion multilateral development bank that finances public and private infrastructure projects for Asia. AIIB’s founders, led by China, first spanned Asia, Europe and the Middle East—now its footprint is global. The birth of this new international financial institution has drawn comparisons and contrasts with its counterparts, such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. How does AIIB reflect the heritage of these counterparts and the innovation of the 21st century? Now that AIIB has begun its fourth year of operation, how has it fared?
About the speaker
Natalie Lichtenstein was the Inaugural General Counsel at AIIB and Chief Counsel for AIIB’s establishment. She retired from a 30-year legal career at the World Bank, including lending operations in China and other countries, and institutional governance issues and reforms. She has taught Chinese law since the 1980s. Most recently, she authored A Comparative Guide to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Oxford 2018), an insider’s guide to the AIIB and its progenitors.

Brexit, Single Market and the Crisis of Governability
2019-03-18 11:30 - 13:00
The vote to leave the European Union and the administrative chaos surrounding British “exit” have dominated domestic debate in the UK, where “leaving the single market” is described by supporters as a seamless solution to economic and social divisions within British society. It is more accurately viewed as transforming the British state in profound and unpredictable ways, and as a countermovement against the neoliberal mode of European integration and a disruption to the single market. This discussion will review the domestic impacts (governability) for the UK of leaving the single market, the effect of Brexit on the single market in Europe, and the safeguards in place to mitigate the risks on the European single market.
About the speaker
Michelle Egan is a CFR Fellow (IAF) to Canada for academic year 2018-2019. She is a Jean Monnet Chair and Professor in the School of International Service (SIS), American University, in Washington DC. Michelle Egan is also a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center. She is editor of the Palgrave Series on European Union, past Chair of the European Union Studies Association (EUSA), the largest professional association in European studies, and has received multiple fellowships including Jean Monnet, Braudel, German Marshall Fund, Bosch, Wilson Center, and Council of Foreign Relations. She is working on a new book tentatively titled Constitutional Compacts, Intergovernmental Relations and Managing Trade in Federal Systems. She has published two single authored books with Oxford University Press, including the award winning Single Markets: Economic Integration in Europe and the United States (Oxford, 2015), as well as edited volumes, journal articles, and book chapters. She has been a commentator on various media including Al Jazeera, CNN International, CTV, NPR Marketplace, NPR the World, Sirius Radio, and has been quoted in various newspaper outlets in Denmark, US, Columbia, and Spain.

2019 Prospective Student Open House
2019-03-15 13:00 - 16:30
By Invitation Only
The Balsillie School welcomes prospective students to tour the campus, and meet faculty, alumni and current students.
Agenda

Food Metrics 3.0: Unearthing Hidden Data
2019-03-14 19:00 - 21:00
Register via Eventbrite

Since 2011, the New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Food Policy has released a Food Metrics Report which provides a snapshot of data from across City agencies on food-related programming and trends. The report has expanded every year to include the broad range of programs and initiatives that the City is doing to address food insecurity; improve City food procurement and food service, increase healthy food access and awareness, and support a more sustainable and just food system. In a review of New York City’s 2018 Food Metrics Report, Dr. Nevin Cohen and his team at the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, identified a number of food metrics that would deepen our understanding of the food system and yet are often overlooked. These hidden food metrics—that are produced by city agencies but often buried in low-profile documents—could be used by interested citizens, policymakers, and advocates to monitor important aspects of the food system, lobby for new resources, support effective initiatives, and design and implement complementary programs. In this talk, Cohen will discuss these hidden food metrics and what they can tell us about the food system.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A with Barbara Emanuel from the Toronto Public Health’s Toronto Food Strategy.
Registration is required.
A reception with light refreshments will follow talk.
About the speaker
Nevin Cohen is Associate Professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health, and Research Director of CUNY’s Urban Food Policy Institute. His scholarship explores the policies, governance systems, practices, and infrastructure to support socially just, healthy, ecologically resilient, and economically viable urban and regional food systems.
Current projects include a five-country analysis of urban agriculture, research on food retail access; a study of the intersections of zoning, planning, and food gentrification; the effects of social equity policies on food systems; and an evaluation of the effects of urban farms in New York City Housing Authority developments. Dr. Cohen is the co-author of a recently published book, Beyond the Kale: urban agriculture and social justice activism in New York City (University of GA Press) that examines the potential of urban farms and gardens to address racial, gender, and class oppression. He has a PhD in Urban Planning and Policy Development from Rutgers University, a master’s in city and Regional Planning from Berkeley, and a BA from Cornell.
About the moderator
Barbara Emanuel is the Manager of the Toronto Food Strategy. Led by Toronto Public Health, the strategy proposes a new vision for Toronto’s food – one that integrates health and city building. The intent is to build food connections across and within city divisions, between city government and community and between multiple food system stakeholders, with the goal of a healthy and sustainable food system for all. The food strategy builds on the strong foundation of the Toronto Food Policy Council which has operated for more than 27 years.
Prior to her work on the food strategy, Barbara was the Strategic Policy Advisor to the Medical Officer of Health for Toronto where she worked on a range of local and global public health and environmental issues including food and nutrition. Barbara has worked for the City of Toronto for over 25 years in a variety of policy and strategic issues roles.
Before working for the City of Toronto, Barbara worked at the Development Education Centre, an adult education resource centre dedicated to international development and capacity building issues
Unable to attend in-person? Register to be notified when the video recording of the event has been made available.

Iraq and the Federalization Process - 2005 to Today
2019-03-14 12:30 - 14:00
The 2005 Iraqi Constitution put forward a shift in the Iraq state model from a centralized system to a decentralized fiscal federal model. This demanded the need for civil service workers in the provinces to learn new skills and for politicians to approach power relations in Iraq differently. What has happened since is a push and pull between the center and the periphery on different issues of centralized control and decentralized authorities. This talk will discuss the current state of play of Iraqi politics and federalism and how it got there, what state-building looks like in reality, and what role international organizations can play.
About the speaker
Mike Fleet is a Senior Researcher with the Institute on Governance, Mike works with the Iraq Team where he helps to implement the Fiscal Federalism, Decentralization and Resiliency Building Project. His research focus is on Iraqi politics, federalism, state-building, and conflict dynamics. Mike completed a Master of Arts degree in Global Governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Roundtable: The Asian Development Bank and Regional Cooperation and Integration
2019-03-13 12:00 - 13:00
By invitation only.
BSIA faculty and students are invited to join Kris Panday, Canada’s Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank, for a roundtable discussion on international financial institutions and Asian regional cooperation and integration.
Abstract
The ADB has made significant investments in the promotion of Asian regional cooperation and integration (RCI). The Bank’s new Strategy 2030 makes RCI a strategic operational priority, indicating an enhanced commitment to mitigate cross-border risks, strengthen financial sector cooperation, and strengthen existing sub-regional initiatives.
About the speaker
Radha Krishna Panday was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank in April 2018. In this capacity, he represents Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Previously, he was seconded to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as Director General of the Market Access Secretariat, with responsibility for the management of bilateral relations, market access issues, and market development activities. Prior to that assignment, Mr. Panday served as Minister (Commercial) at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. Previous overseas assignments have included Dubai, as Canada’s first Consul General, Washington DC, as Minister-Counsellor (Congressional Relations), Seoul, as Counsellor (Market Access), and Singapore, as Trade Commissioner. Headquarters assignments have included Director, Softwood Lumber Division, and Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister of International Trade. Mr. Panday is a career member of the Canadian Foreign Service.
Mr. Panday holds a BA (Economics and Political Science) and an MA (Economics), both from the University of Toronto.
For more information, or to attend, email Dr. Andrew Thompson at asthompson@balsillieschool.ca.

U.S.-Vietnamese Climate Security Cooperation
2019-03-12 11:30 - 13:00
Vietnam is among the globe’s top ten countries most negatively affected by climate change and extreme weather events. How has the United States partnered with state and local actors in Vietnam to increase climate security and reduce Hanoi’s vulnerability? Is it enough?
About the speaker
Robert. K. Brigham, Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations, joined the Vassar College faculty in 1994. He is a specialist on the history of US foreign relations. He is author or co-author of nine books, among them Reckless: Henry Kissinger and the Tragedy of Vietnam (PublicAffairs, 2018); Iraq, Vietnam, and the Limits of American Power (PublicAffairs, 2008); and Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy (PublicAffairs, 1999), written with former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and James G. Blight of the University of Waterloo at the Balsillie School. Brigham’s current research interest is the nexus between security and climate change.

Disrupting Crisis, Unsettling Urgency: An Indigenous Criticism of Assumptions about Time in Environmental Advocacy
2019-03-11 15:00 - 16:30
Climate change activism and scientific assessments often emphasizes that humans must grasp the urgency of taking swift and decisive actions to address an environmental crisis. Yet many such conceptions of urgency obscure the factors that Indigenous peoples have called out as the most pressing concerns about climate justice. This obfuscation explains, in part, why climate change advocacy remains largely unrelated to Indigenous efforts to achieve justice and engage in decolonial actions. Kyle Whyte will show why a politics of urgency can be based in assumptions about the relationship among time (temporality) and environmental change that are antithetical to allyship with Indigenous peoples. He will contrast the temporality of urgency with some Indigenous traditions of temporality that center moral qualities of kinship relationships, such as consent, trust and reciprocity, and suggest that such Indigenous traditions articulate crucial conditions for climate and environmental justice, moving forward.
About the speaker
Kyle Whyte is the Timnick Chair in the Humanities and a professor in the departments of Philosophy and Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. His research addresses moral and political issues concerning climate policy and Indigenous peoples, the ethics of cooperative relationships between Indigenous peoples and science organizations, and problems of Indigenous justice in public and academic discussions of food sovereignty, environmental justice, and the anthropocene. He is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Kyle is involved in a number of projects and organizations that advance Indigenous research methodologies, including the Climate and Traditional Knowledges Workgroup, Sustainable Development Institute of the College of Menominee Nation, Tribal Climate Camp, and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. He is a recipient of the Bunyan Bryant Award for Academic Excellence from Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice.

Waterloo Region Multidisciplinary Graduate Conference on Africa, 2019
2019-03-08 13:00 - 17:00
The 2nd Waterloo Region Multidisciplinary Graduate Conference in Africa hosted by the Tshepo Institute and Balsillie School of International Affairs will be happening Friday, March 8th, 2019. The conference brings together Masters, Doctoral and Postdoctoral students with research related to Africa. Students will showcase their own research, learn about other research on Africa, and explore questions about doing research in and about Africa. In addition, Dr. Liam Riley, a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow with the African Food Security Urban Network and the Hungry Cities Partnership, will talk about his own research and how he developed and used his research after completing a PhD to continue his scholarship as part of a research collective. This conference is also an opportunity to network and meet students and scholars engaged with scholarship on Africa.
Keynote speaker
Dr. Liam Riley, Banting Postdoctoral Fellow with African Food Security Urban Network and the Hungry Cities Partnership
Please RSVP to Kimberly Geronimo at gero1630@mylaurier.ca

Disarming Myths about Women, Weapons and War
2019-03-07 19:00 - 21:00
Register via Eventbrite
Disarmament and arms control, security, and related fields have been and continue to be traditionally male-dominated fields. Organizations such as the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) work to challenge these norms and address issues of gender, militarism, peace and security by empowering citizen-led initiatives to enact changes within political frameworks. As part of CIGI’s programming around International Women’s Day, we invite you to join us for an evening with Allison Pytlak, Manager for Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament program of the WILPF. Allison will explore contributions of women to peace building, disarmament, and arms control, Canada’s recent leadership role on this front, and reflect on her experiences in both the UN and multilateral contexts.
About the speaker
Allison Pytlak is the Programme Manager for Reaching Critical Will. She contributes to the organisation’s monitoring and analysis of disarmament processes as well as its research and other publications, as well as liaises with UN, government, and civil society colleagues. Prior to this role, Allison worked in policy and advocacy with the Control Arms coalition focusing on the Arms Trade Treaty. She has also worked with Religions for Peace and Mines Action Canada on a broader range of arms issues, and has significant experience in campaigning and advocacy, research and writing, project management and multilateral treaty negotiations. Allison has a BA in International Relations from the University of Toronto and an MA, also in International Relations, from the City University of New York. She is an expert with the Forum on the Arms Trade and a 2018 UN Women Metro-NY “Champion of Change”.
Co-hosted with the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

How Progressive is Canada’s “Progressive Trade Agenda”? A Gendered Analysis
2019-03-07 12:00 - 13:30
The Canadian federal government of Justin Trudeau has espoused a “progressive trade agenda” in its pursuit of international free trade agreements (FTAs). In particular, it has committed itself to integrating gender chapters into new FTAs, as well as commitments to consultation and incorporation of provisions regarding labour, the environment, and Indigenous rights. Many researchers, activists and members of civil society have challenged the progressiveness of the approach, arguing that this claim is simply window dressing and “pinkwashing” for what continue to be pro-corporate trade deals. This presentation evaluates the claims of the current government around the promotion of the PTA with specific attention to the recent re-negotiation of NAFTA. Drawing upon Nancy Fraser’s concept of “progressive neoliberalism,” Dr. Macdonald argues that “progressiveness” is a key element in how the Liberal government seeks to brand their approach to trade policy and distinguish it from the policies of their Conservative predecessors. Laura also presents perspectives from civil society actors about what a more truly progressive approach would look like.
About the speaker
Laura Macdonald is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University. She has published numerous articles in journals and edited collections on such issues as the role of non-governmental organizations in development, global civil society, social policies and citizenship struggles in Latin America, Canadian development assistance, Canada-Latin American relations and the political impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Her recent work looks at transnational activism in North America around labour rights, migration, and human rights in Mexico, and policies to reduce crime and violence in Mexico City.

IMRC Graduate Student Research Symposium
2019-03-06 12:00 - 13:30
In honour of International Women’s Day, IMRC-affiliated advanced PhD students will present their research on the intersection of issues involving women and migration.
Panelists
Hari KC is a doctoral student in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University, and his dissertation focuses on a comparative analysis of labour migration governance in Nepal and the Philippines, examining how gender operates as a governing code.
Masaya Llavaneras-Blanco is a feminist political economist. Her research focuses on the experiences of care provision, self-care, and survival of Haitian migrant domestic workers in the Dominican Republic.
Shiva Mohan is a PhD candidate in Geography at Wilfrid Laurier University. His research focuses on Caribbean mobilities, movements and geopolitics. The working title of his dissertation is: “Negotiating Islands’ Political Geographies: The case of the ‘Maduro Migrations’ from Venezuela to Trinidad.
Diana Thomasz is a PhD student at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. Diana researches injustices faced by ‘undesirable’ migrants and the often parallel injustices faced by certain groups of citizens.
Lunch will be served.

Documentary Filmmaking and Migration
2019-03-05 10:00 - 12:00
Rescheduled from February 12th.

Since moving to the American Southwest four years ago, Lisa Molomot has been exploring stories about immigration in her documentaries. These recent works involve migrant workers in Arizona, an interior immigration checkpoint in Texas, and an asylum seeker from Honduras who ends up at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona.
Lisa is also collaborating with Dr. Alison Mountz on a feature documentary, filmed in British Columbia, Ontario, Colorado and Arizona, about U.S. war resisters who came to Canada in search of safe haven during the Vietnam and Iraq wars.
In her talk, Lisa will share her experiences of and challenges relating to access and ethics in making documentaries in the age of Trump, and will screen short clips of her films.
About the speaker
Lisa Molomot is a Tucson-based educator and filmmaker who teaches at the University of Arizona’s School of Theater, Film and Television and the James E. Rogers College of Law. Her award-winning documentary School’s Out is a portrait of a forest kindergarten in Switzerland, has had over 75 screenings internationally and been featured on slate.com, in The Atlantic, and on NPR; her first feature THE HILL tells the story of an immigrant neighborhood in New Haven, CT.
Lisa’s recent work has focused on immigration; as part of a course she co-taught with immigration lawyer Nina Rabin, she created a short film called The Cleaners about the labor issues faced by migrant workers in Arizona; she is currently working on another short film through the law school about a female Central American refugee who spent time at Eloy Detention Center; her feature documentary Missing in Brooks County, currently in post-production, is a portrait of a small Texas town dealing with a migrant death crisis; and, as a Fulbright scholar at the IMRC, Lisa is editing the feature documentary Canada: A Safe Haven? with her collaborator Dr. Alison Mountz.

Canada, Oil and World Politics: The Real Story of Today's Conflict Zones – Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ukraine and More
2019-02-27 19:00 - 20:30
Petroleum is the most valuable commodity in the world and an enormous source of wealth for those who sell it, transport it and transform it for its many uses. As the engine of modern economies and industries, governments everywhere want to assure steady supplies. Without it, their economies would grind to a standstill.
Since petroleum is not evenly distributed around the world, powerful countries want to be sure they have access to supplies and markets, whatever the cost to the environment or to human life. Coveting the petroleum of another country is against the rules of international law — yet if accomplished surreptitiously, under the cover of some laudable action, it’s a bonanza. This is the basis of “the petroleum game,” where countries jockey for control of the world’s oil and natural gas. It’s an ongoing game of rivalry among global and regional countries, each pursuing its own interests and using whatever tools, allies and organizations offer possible advantage.
This talk, based on the book Oil and World Politics: The real story of today’s conflict zones – Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ukraine and more, covers oil-producing countries, transit countries, the Big Powers as well as Canada. John Foster explores military interventions, tensions around international waterways, and the use of sanctions or political interference related to petroleum trade. Drawing on his experience as a petroleum economist, John illuminates the petroleum-related reasons for government actions usually camouflaged and rarely discussed publicly.
With reflections by Dr. Angela Carter, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Waterloo and Balsillie School of International Affairs Fellow.
Oil and World Politics: The real story of today’s conflict zones: Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ukraine and more will be available for sale courtesy of Words Worth Books.
About the speaker
John Foster has spent his working life as a petroleum economist. He has more than 40 years’ experience in policy and economic issues relating to infrastructure and petroleum. While holding positions with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, Petro-Canada and BP group, he witnessed first-hand the impact of petroleum geopolitics in more than 30 countries around the world.
Angela Carter’s research has focused on environmental policy regimes surrounding oil extraction in Canada’s primary oil producing provinces: Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan. Her recent publications analyzed government policy approaches and social movement opposition to fracking, as well as provincial oil sector emissions policy. She is now extending this work in an international comparative project on supply-side climate policy. She is particularly intrigued by the rise of “keep it in the ground” movements and legislation.

This event is co-sponsored by the Peace and Conflict Studies Association of Canada (PACS-Can) and LSPRIG: Laurier Student Public Interest Research Group.

Food Security in Africa's Secondary Cities: Dschang, Cameroon
2019-02-25 12:00 - 14:00
The problem of urban food security has received little research or policy attention in Cameroon even though it is a rapidly urbanizing country and many people in cities are struggling to make ends meet. Some key problems are that there is high unemployment, food prices are high relative to incomes, and with population growth it is becoming increasingly difficult to survive by producing one’s own food. This presentation will review findings from a household survey that was carried out in Dschang, Cameroon to assess the levels of household food insecurity in that city and to understand how the food system functions. The majority of households were found to be food insecure and fully two thirds of households were severely food insecure, meaning that they frequently worried about food and that experiences such as going without food for an entire day were commonplace. Drawing on supplemental conservation research, the presentation will draw particular attention to the role of indigenous plants in Dschang’s food system. Most households consumed indigenous foods, which they usually had access to in city markets or street vendors or their own plantation.
About the speaker
Yanick Borel Kamga is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Plant Biology at University of Dschang, Cameroon. He completed an MSc. in Systematics and Plant Ecology at the University of Dschang, Cameroon and the Erasmus Mundus Masters degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems (TROPIMUNDO) offered by the University of Brussels, Universidad Cientifica del Peru and Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in 2015. Yanick’s research interests include climate change, biodiversity, food security and sustainable development. He has conducted and participated in research on the impact of climate change on wildlife conservation in Peru; compilation of an inventory of flora species, wildlife and impact on indigenous population in Peru; inventory and characterization of vegetation of Mount Cameroon; and plant community ecology in West Highlands of Cameroon.
During his scholarship period at the Balsillie School of International Affairs as a Queen Elizabeth Advanced Scholar with the Hungry Cities Partnership, he focuses on food security in Dschang, Cameroon as part of a broader research project on changing food systems in Africa’s secondary cities.

“Home State Responsibility” and Contested Sovereignties in Africa’s Mining Sector
2019-02-14 12:30 - 14:00
Recent research triggers the need to better understand the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), multinational mining companies, and state behaviour. In particular, the nascent concept of home state responsibility (HSR) remains challenged with unknowns, as it is not clearly understood how this emerging concept differs from a government-censored CSR, and why it matters. In this talk, Dr. Compaoré asks what issues, insights and prospects the concept of home state responsibility brings to debates on local-global dynamics in Africa’s mining sector. This is a critical question for debates on the resource-conflict nexus, especially at a time when African state and non-state actors are increasingly contesting the role of multinational mining corporations, and displaying greater agency in the governance of their mineral resources. Specifically, the tripartite dynamics between host states, mining companies and home states bring to light multiple dimensions of sovereignties, and also involve contestations from local communities affected by mining projects. Informed by a legal pluralist framework to regulation that is anchored within a Third World Approach to International Law, the analysis addresses whether and to what extent, the innovative concept of HSR may be a tool and/or a hindrance in addressing governance challenges in Africa’s mining sector.
About the speaker
W. R. Nadège Compaoré is a Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) Postdoctoral Fellow. Prior to joining the BSIA, she was respectively a Research Analyst at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Social Science at York University. Her work lies at the intersection of Global Political Economy, International Relations and International Law scholarships, which guide her analysis of global and regional governance measures targeting the oil, gas and mining industries in Africa. Nadège’s research draws from extensive fieldwork in Gabon, Ghana, and South Africa, respectively funded by SSHRC, CIGI, and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Her ongoing project investigates the changing nature of mining legislations in Africa, and the implications of these changes for multinational corporations, as well as for state behaviour in both host and home countries. Her work has been published in journals such as International Studies Review, Etudes Internationales, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, and Contemporary Politics. Nadège is co-editor of New Approaches to the Governance of Natural Resources: Insights from Africa (Palgrave, 2015). She holds a PhD in Political Studies from Queen’s University.

Managing Your Citations: How to Use Bibliographic Software
2019-02-08 10:00 - 12:00
Led by Laurier Librarian, Debbie Chaves, this session for graduate students at the BSIA will investigate Mendeley and Zotero and talk about RefWorks.
Please bring your laptops to this session on citation management systems.

Banking on Markets: The Transformation of Bank-State Ties in Europe and Beyond
2019-02-07 12:00 - 13:30
States and banks have traditionally maintained close ties. At various points in time, states have used banks to manage their economies and soak up government debt, while banks enjoyed regulatory forbearance, restricted competition, and implicit or explicit guarantees from their home markets. The political foundations of banks have thus been powerful and enduring, with actors on both sides of the aisle reluctant to sever relations.
The central argument of this book, however, is that in the world’s largest integrated market, Europe, the traditional political ties between states and banks have been transformed. Specifically, through a combination of post-communist transition, monetary union, and economic crisis, states in Europe no longer wield preponderant influence over their banks. Banking on Markets explains why we have witnessed the radical denationalization of this politically vital sector, as well as the consequences for economic volatility and policy autonomy. The findings in Europe have implications for other world regions, which, to varying degrees, have also experienced intensified pressure on their traditional models of domestic political control over finance.
Banking on Markets is the co-winner of the 2018 Ed A Hewett book prize in international political economy.
About the speaker
Rachel Epstein is Professor of International Relations and Associate Dean of Research and Faculty at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Her research interests include banking and finance, the international security architecture and interactions between supranational organizations and domestic politics. She has been a co-editor at the Review of International Political Economy since 2017.

Steadying the Hands That Rock the Cradle: Exploring the Roles of African Grandmothers in the Stability and Sustenance of Diasporic African Families
2019-02-04 11:30 - 13:00
The presentation explores how the nuclearization, therefore atomization of the family system in North America, as an off-shoot of individualism presents as a serious attenuation of support systems ordinarily. This finding portends even more challenges for Diasporic families, especially those from Africa, which social carpets have been ripped from under their feet owing to migration. Migration conveys stress-laden concomitants for Diasporic entities, which must, among other integration rites of passage, enter the labor force, adjust to the norms and mores of the new culture, balance their socialization and parenting repertoire with the conflicting types decreed by their host country, including endure revision of gender roles. Pertinently, it explores how African grandmothers as an often gender discountenanced social capital and support system, paradoxically attenuates spousal conflicts, including violence, impart culture relevant socialization to the grandchildren and assist to forge and maintain family homeostasis.
About the speaker
Dr. Buster Ogbuagu has worked as a radio broadcaster, high school teacher, social worker in child protection, juvenile justice, as well as a clinical practitioner in polysubstance dependence and concurrent disorder, and as a new émigré to Canada, he worked as an office cleaner. Dr. Ogbuagu holds a BSc. [Hons] in Sociology & Anthropology from the University of Nigeria. He also earned a BSW, MSW and PhD from McGill University. Philosophically, he is passionate about intersectionalities and anti-oppressive epistemologies to social work practice, which underscore and inform his teaching and practice. As a Diasporic Transnationalist, his current and ongoing research and professional interests include, but are not limited to Social Policy/Welfare, Ethics, Race, Anti-racist/Anti-Oppression, Minority & Gender Issues, Multiculturalism, Refugees, Refugee/Resettlement/Transnational migration, Community Organizing and Advocacy; Child Protection; Mental Health, including Addictions and Disability. Dr. Ogbuagu has documented some of his many lived experiences in several published journal articles and books.

The SDGs: A Political Economic Take
2019-01-31 12:00 - 13:30
The global Sustainable Development Goals require us to make sure “no one is left behind.” That means reaching the hardest to reach. We know how to deliver health to the so-called lowest hanging fruit, but what about the highest hanging fruit – the poorest of the poor, those who lack ID, the marginalized, the invisible? In this talk, Professor Wong will discuss the challenges of delivering health to the hard to reach, the innovations to reach, and the political and economic obstacles in our way.
About the speaker
Professor Joseph Wong was appointed Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost, International Student Experience on January 1, 2017. Professor Wong is currently the Ralph and Roz Halbert Professor of Innovation at the Munk School of Global Affairs, a Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts and Science, and held the Canada Research Chair in Health, Democracy, and Development for two full terms, 2006 to 2016. He was the Director of the Asian Institute at the Munk School from 2005 to 2014.
Professor Wong is the author of many academic articles and several books, including Healthy Democracies: Welfare Politics in Taiwan and South Korea and Betting on Biotech: Innovation and the Limits of Asia’s Developmental State, both published by Cornell University Press. He is the co-editor, with Edward Friedman, of Political Transitions in Dominant Party Systems: Learning to Lose, published by Routledge, and recently co-edited with Dilip Soman and Janice Stein Innovating for the Global South with the University of Toronto Press. Professor Wong’s articles have appeared in journals such as the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Perspectives on Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Politics and Society, and Governance, among many others.
More about Professor Wong…

Secession as Risky Business: Economic Organizations and the Politics of Independence Referenda
2019-01-24 12:00 - 13:30
The economic costs and benefits of independence are often the central element of debates in the lead-up to secession referenda. Despite the prominent role of economic organizations – both individual enterprises, and representative bodies – in these debates, scholars have largely ignored the political role of these crucial economic actors. This presentation maps the emergent strategies that businesses develop in times of constitutional uncertainty, and counter-strategies devised by pro-independence actors. The cases include Catalonia, Scotland, Quebec, and several non-Western counter-examples.
About the speaker
Karlo Basta is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. His work spans identity politics in multinational states, symbolic aspects of political institutions, and the politics of events and temporality. His work has been published in Comparative Political Studies, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Nations and Nationalism, and other scholarly journals. He is currently completing a book manuscript on decentralization, recognition, and secessionist crises in multinational states.
