April, 2012
A tale of two very different summits
"The outcomes could not have been more different — one a resounding success, the other a remarkable fiasco," writes CIGI Distinguished Fellow Jorge Heine in comparing the recent BRICS summit and the Summit of the Americas.
Economic interests give Assad loyalists stubborn resilience
In an op-ed to The National, CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani writes on the uncomfortable truth about Syria. She argues that "the Syrian peoples' position is not based on who they follow, but on how much they will lose in each scenario."
Academic freedom at York University? More like academic myopia
finance rules, intellectual property law and environmental norms directly affect how well Canadian business can compete and, by extension, how Canadians will prosper. It’s profoundly in Canada’s interests to help shape rules on finance, intellectual property and environmental norms to be a policy-maker rather than a policy-taker. This requires intellectual leadership, cross-cultural sensitivity and a disposition to co-operate, not only among nations but also within countries among business, government and the universities, CIGI Chair Jim Balsillie writes.
All's not lost, Ontario. The future is green, not black
In an op-ed to The Globe and Mail, Thomas Homer-Dixon, CIGI Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, writes that "Ontario can be in the vanguard of one of the biggest technological revolutions humanity will ever experience."
Academic freedom doesn’t mean ‘you pay, we play’
In an op-ed to The National Post, CIGI Executive Director Tom Bernes writes that,"CIGI remains committed to its goal of pursuing active research and policy debate on law and the international economy and we will continue to search for new and innovative ways to do so."
CIGI: Academic freedom was never under threat
Vice President of Public Affairs Fred Kuntz comments on CIGI's role in the proposed partnership with York University, and writes that CIGI "puts the highest value on academic freedom and integrity in independent research."
Imbizo – My Debate: Children’s right to education has no borders
In an op-ed to The New Age, CIGI Chair in Global Migration and Development Jonathan Crush argues that South Africa's national policy and legislative framework around school admission violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights of the Child and the Bill of Rights.
Canada abandons its principles in automatic backing for U.S. World Bank candidate
CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani and CIGI Junior Fellow Xenia Menzies argue that by endorsing the U.S. candidate for the World Bank, Canada risks its ability to command future respect in the multilateral realm.
Tweeting as Statecraft: How, Against All Odds, Twitter Is Changing the World’s Second Oldest Profession
"Twitter has taken diplomacy by storm," write CIGI Distinguished Fellow Jorge Heine and his co-author Joe Turcotte, in their article exploring "the manner in which these new tools [social media] are affecting the practice of a highly traditional craft, more set in its ways than most."