Interview

Last week, on the eleventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, violent protests targeted US embassies throughout parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Asia and Europe. To learn more about what this wave of violence means for US diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim world, we speak to CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced that Leona Aglukkaq will serve as Canada’s chair of the Arctic Council in 2013—2015. We speak to CIGI Research Fellow and Arctic expert James Manicom to learn more about the Arctic Council’s purpose and Canada’s chairmanship and future role within the organization.

Politics — from principled boycotts to decades-old rivalries — continue to permeate major sporting events, often in spite of the organizers’ best efforts to keep politics out of the sporting arena. Occasions like the Olympic Games offer a major platform for unsanctioned self-expression, not to mention celebrity involvement in a truly international setting. To gain a better understanding of what the global audience might expect from the 2012 Olympic Summer Games, we spoke with CIGI Distinguished Fellow Andrew Cooper, an expert in unconventional international diplomacy.

On June 13, 2012, CIGI will publish Unleashing the Nuclear Watchdog: Strengthening and Reform of the IAEA. This report by CIGI Senior Fellow Trevor Findlay marks the culmination of a two-year research project that examined all aspects of the mandate and operations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), from major programs on safeguards, safety, security and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy to governance, management and finance. We speak to Trevor to learn more about the IAEA and why this report will have an impact.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit, the United Nations is holding its Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. For a better understanding of the issues at play and a sense of what to expect from “Rio+20,” we talk to CIGI Distinguished Fellow David Runnalls.

Last week, more than 50 world leaders convened in South Korea to attend the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit — a forum for discussing nuclear security. At the end of the conference, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak stated “we have now set a new milestone for creating a safer and more peaceful world free from nuclear terrorism.” To understand more about the summit’s implications, we speak to the author of a forthcoming major report on the International Atomic Energy Agency, CIGI Senior Fellow Trevor Findlay.

Leading China expert Joseph Fewsmith offers insight on political reform in China and what the 18th Party Congress will bring.

North Korea agreed recently to suspend its nuclear activities, announcing a freeze on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches and uranium enrichment at its Yongbyon plant. It also invited back international nuclear inspectors expelled in 2009, presumably in a bid to restart the six-party talks. To better understand the significance and possible ramifications of North Korea’s announcement, we talked to James Manicom, SSHRC post-doctoral fellow at the Balsille School of International Affairs.

With new sources and methods of global petroleum production coming on stream — shale fracking, ultra-deepwater drilling and new fields in Africa, to name a few — some energy analysts have argued that reports of the death of cheap oil have been greatly exaggerated. In this week's CIGI Interview, Thomas Homer-Dixon takes issue with these "oil optimists," saying that the petroleum our global economy can afford to consume is indeed running out, and that we need to be much more aggressive in developing alternative energy sources.

Heads of state and leading figures from business and academia gather this week in Davos, Switzerland to “shape global, regional and industry agendas,” as part of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting. With this year’s conference entitled "The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models," we talk to WEF Sustainability Adviser and CIGI Senior Visiting Fellow Simon Zadek on what the forum’s unique composition can offer in terms of economic recovery and a move toward green growth.