What’s Next After Iran’s Surprise Election Result?

• 17 juin 2013

Published in the Globe and Mail, June 16, 2013

The Iranian electorate has surprised us. Most Iran experts (mea culpa – me too) had confidently expected that Hassan Rouhani had little chance of victory. But then he won. …

A New Chapter in US-China Relations?

• 11 juin 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have just concluded a two-day summit, which was described by U.S. officials as positive and constructive. The summit, held at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, just outside Palm Springs, was the …

In Defence of Academic ‘Fiddling’

• 10 juin 2013

Published in the Ottawa Citizen, June 5, 2013

Are political scientists failing to play their part as critics of the government in Canada? Lawrence Martin thinks so. Writing in the Globe and Mail last week, he lamented that academics …

Migrants’ Global Ties Challenge Canada to Make Big-Picture Policy

• 7 juin 2013

Published in the Toronto Star, June 6, 2013

The American writer Maya Angelou was referring to deep matters of the heart when she said, “You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, …

How Not to Spend $75 Billion

• 6 juin 2013

Humanitarian motives are given as the justification for a whole series of foreign policy endeavours nowadays, from the most peaceful forms of foreign aid through to full-scale military invasion and occupation of foreign countries. How is that working out?  Two …

Ayatollah Khamenei’s Slow-Motion Power Grab

• 29 mai 2013

Published in the Globe and Mail, May 28, 2013

The field has been set for the June 14 presidential election in Iran. The list of approved candidates to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells us a lot about where the country …

The Afghanistan Mission: What Went Wrong?

• 28 mai 2013

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, which deposed the Taliban regime, was followed by a major international effort to stabilize that country. More than a decade later, this effort has yielded neither security nor political stability in Afghanistan.…

Prescription for Azevedo and an Ailing WTO

• 23 mai 2013

Published in the Ottawa Citizen’s “Aid and Development” blog, May 23, 2013

The selection of Roberto Azevedo, Brazil’s Ambassador to the WTO and chief negotiator in the Doha Round, as the new WTO director-general is being hailed …

Duffy, China, Syria: Weighing the Scales of Scandal

• 21 mai 2013

Published in the Toronto Star, May 21, 2013

Mike Duffy, China, Syria: one of these things is not like the others. For starters, only the first (along with the inimitable mayor of Toronto) has riveted the attention of most …

A Chink in the Harper Narrative?

• 21 mai 2013

For many years Stephen Harper has carefully honed a narrative. It runs like this: “You may not like me personally, but you know in your heart that I am a good steward of the public purse, and that I am …