Centre for International Policy Studies (CIPS) Podcasts

As the Iran nuclear negotiations near their twelfth year, a negotiated agreement finally seems feasible. Iran has a new – and newly-pragmatic – nuclear negotiating team which has talked of constructive relations with the West and the conclusion of a diplomatic deal within months. As a result, the policy debate in Washington and other capitals has shifted from whether an agreement is possible, to what sort of agreement is acceptable. What distinguishes a good deal from a bad deal? How do we address Iran’s other activities – such as its support for terrorism and for the brutal crackdown in Syria – in an agreement? And what will the implications of a nuclear agreement with Iran be for the security of the Middle East and the future of non-proliferation efforts? Mr. Singh, who served for several years as the US point-man on Iran, will address these questions and more in his remarks. Michael Singh is the managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a nonpartisan think tank dedicated to advancing American interests in the Middle East. Mr. Singh was senior director for Near East and North African Affairs at the White House from 2007-2008, and director for several Middle Eastern countries, including Syria, on the NSC staff from 2005-2007.

Around the world unprecedented numbers of people have gathered in the face of repressive governments to demand change. They have called for democratic reforms and stronger respect for human rights. This mobilization has led to sweeping political change in some countries and been met with brutal suppression in others. Maina Kiai is the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. He will provide a global overview of these rights and of the challenges and opportunities that arise when people gather in large numbers to speak out about change.

The doctrines of peacekeeping, justice and the responsibility to protect are all at the heart of UN efforts to protect civilians from the devastating effects of warfare. The ambition to eradicate cultures of impunity, protect civilians and bring peace to warring communities is a laudable one, but all too often we are falling short of these goals. When we look around us today we see horrendous abuses in Syria, the Central African Republic, and numerous other states where civilians are bearing the brunt of conflict. And we are still struggling to reconcile the sometimes competing aspirations of peace and justice. What does this say about these three doctrines? Are they now showing the flaws in their original conception and formulation, or is the root of the problem one of insufficient implementation? Louise Arbour became President & CEO of the International Crisis Group in 2009 after serving as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In recent years, Canada has been an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime, cutting off diplomatic relations and denouncing its leaders’ actions and intentions. Meanwhile, it has also initiated a program of direct diplomacy that reached out online to the Iranian people prior to the recent Iranian presidential elections with the intention of bolstering their democratic voice. Some say the Canadian government has gone too far in antagonizing Iran, to the detriment of potentially constructive diplomacy. Others counter that Canada is taking exactly the right measures toward a regime with which conventional diplomacy is impossible. Debating these issues are John Mundy, a Visiting Associate at CIPS, and Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. John Mundy is a former Canadian diplomat with 31 years of experience in the Federal Public Service. In 2007 John was appointed Canadian Ambassador to Iran during a very difficult time in bilateral relations. At the end of that year, when attempts to agree upon a reciprocal exchange of Ambassadors between Iran and Canada failed, he was expelled by President Ahmadinejad and diplomatic relations were down-graded. Shimon Fogel serves as the CEO for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. Shimon joined the Canada-Israel Committee as Director of Government Relations in 1988 and was appointed as CEO in 2001. He has served as a consultant to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and as a member of the prestigious Round Table on Global Security under the Department of National Defense.

After 67 years attempting to maintain international peace and security, the UN Security Council currently faces a number of unprecedented challenges to its authority and efficacy. Confronted with new threats and conflicts, new claimants to the privileges of permanent membership, new critics to its claims to legitimacy and authority, and few successes since its 2011 landmark interventions in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire, the Security Council is at a crossroads. From burden shedding to burden sharing, from peacebuilding to robust peacekeeping, the Council is seeking for ways to retain its authority despite its continuing failure in Syria. The talk will take a look inside the Security Council, and address how this conservative organ is imperfectly adjusting to these challenges and half-heartedly seizing the opportunities that lie before it. Bruno Stagno Ugarte joined the UN Security Council Report as Executive Director in 2011 after a sixteen year career in the Costa Rican Foreign Service including a four-year term as Foreign Minister.

More than 100,000 Syrians have reportedly been killed and millions have been left homeless in a conflict that has transformed from an anti-government protest movement into a brutal sectarian struggle with extensive outside involvement. As the United States contemplates military action in response to the Syrian regime’s apparent use of chemical weapons, are we reaching a new inflection point in the conflict? What strategic options are available to the US and its allies? What prospects are there for a peaceful resolution? And is there any role for Canada? MARGARET BLOODWORTH, Senior Fellow at GSPIA and former National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. ROBERT FOWLER, Senior Fellow at GSPIA and former Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Ministers Trudeau, Mulroney and Chrétien. ROLAND PARIS, Director of CIPS and Associate Professor at GSPIA. DAVID PETRASEK, Associate Professor at GSPIA and former Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Amnesty International. Moderator: COSTANZA MUSU, Associate Professor at GPSIA.

In May 2013 Pakistanis overwhelmingly elected Nawaz Sharif as the country’s next leader, for an unprecedented third term, shifting the balance of power away from the military that ousted him in 1999, and from the independent judiciary that removed another prime minister less than a year ago. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, one fairly elected civilian government has served a full term and in the course of a fair election, has been replaced by another. Pakistani democracy has never looked stronger, but the reality on the ground is often vastly different. What is the next chapter for Pakistan, and what does this mean for the future of the precarious US-Pakistani relationship? This lecture will be followed by a book signing session of the book Taliban. Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist based in Lahore. He presently writes for the Financial Times, the International Herald Tribune, the New York Review of Books, BBC Online, The National Interest, and several other academic and foreign affairs journals. Previously, Rashid was the Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review for 22 years.

How political is foreign aid? How political should it be? Can the pursuit of political goals like democratic development, and use of politically-informed methods in the planning and delivery of aid, increase its effectiveness in fostering development? In recent years, many aid practitioners and scholars have been arguing that aid should be more political. They do not mean that aid should advance geo-political interests. Rather, they are referring to efforts by international actors to balance socio-economic with democratic goals and methods. Thomas Carothers will assess the emergence of these goals and methods over time and across donor agencies to foster broader discussion and explore new directions for Canadian democracy aid. A book signing will follow. Thomas Carothers is a foremost authority on international support for democracy, rights and governance. He is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and founder and director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Program and oversees Carnegie Europe in Brussels.

Clément Duhaime will discuss the evolution of the mission and activities of la Francophonie as an international actor and as an organization that supports its member countries in promoting policies of economic and social development.

Corinne Gendron is professor at the Department of Organization and Human Resource Management at UQAM School of Management Science (ESG) and head of the research chair in Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development (CRSDD). Her research programs focus on sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, globalization, new social economic movements and fair trade. She also works as a consultant for a number of organisations, and is regularly solicited in Quebec and internationally for her expertise on social responsibility and sustainable development.

David Menashri is Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. Iran’s strive for nuclear power is viewed as a major threat to Israel and a serious challenge for the Middle East and the United States. The combination of nuclear power on the one hand and radical ideology on the other, in addition to Iran’s relation with radical Islamist movements (like Hamas and Hizballah), as well as with the Syrian regime all join to make Iran a major cause for concern. How determined is Iran in pursuing its nuclear program? How firm is the government at home? What can be done to dissuade Tehran from pursuing its nuclear program? What can the outside world do? Is an internal change possible?

Miko Peled is a son of a famous Israeli general, and a Jewish-American peace activist who argues in his new book The General’s Son, that “… [f]or the good of both nations, Israeli control over the lives of Palestinians must be ended, so Israelis and Palestinians can live as equals.” He tours and lectures widely. Prof. Nadia Abu-Zahra teaches in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is the co-author with Adah Kay of the recently published book Unfree in Palestine: Registration, Documentation and Movement Restriction. The book examines the historical basis and current operation of Israeli administrative attempts in Palestine to denationalize, coerce, and expel Palestinians.

Leading business publications and business analysts have recently become very optimistic about Africa, noting its high growth rates and enthusing about its potential as the world’s last emerging market. This is in notable contrast with so much writing about Africa from the last century, which often tended to focus on Africa’s perceived failures and on its potential for development rather than on its rather modest achievements at that period. This presentation will argue that Africa is indeed developing, but in ways that few people foresaw. In particular, it is unlikely that many African states, even those with high economic growth rates, will evolve in the directions generally recommended by development experts. Stephen Ellis is the Desmond Tutu Professor of Youth, Sport and Reconciliation at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the VU University, Amsterdam. He is a member of various editorial boards, including that of the journal African Affairs, of which he is a former editor.

Emily Gilbert is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, cross-appointed between the Canadian Studies program and the Department of Geography. Her current research is an examination of how contemporary war is restructuring the ways that lives are valued (or not). Why have militaries been making cash payments when they inadvertently injure, kill or incur property damage in the ‘war on terror’? This presentation will examine the practices around compensation that are being rolled out in the battle to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the population. It will attend to the ways that compensation is being cast as one prong of economic development, or in the military’s words, how money is used as a “non-lethal weapon” in counterinsurgency.

Michael Williams is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. His research interests are in International Relations theory, security studies, and political thought. His most recent book (with Rita Abrahamsen) is Security Beyond the State: Private Security in International Politics(Cambridge University Press, 2011). Realism remains perhaps the dominant approach to world politics; yet there is little agreement on what Realism is. Returning to realism’s role in the founding of International Relations as “an American social science” in the post-war era, this paper argues that this “Realist gambit” did not attempt to found the new discipline of IR upon securely “scientific” foundations, nor simply to teach it yet again the conservative verities of realpolitik – myths that continue to bedevil our understanding of the issues involved.