Op-Eds Archive

Monday, February 6, 2012

Jean-Claude Duvalier should be tried for more than corruption

The Toronto Star

In an op-ed to The Toronto Star, CIGI Distinguished Fellow Jorge Heine argues that "the last thing (Haiti) needs right now is a resurfacing of Duvalierism."

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Our peak oil premium

The Globe and Mail

CIGI Chair of Global System Thomas Homer-Dixon writes on "Our peak oil premium." He argues that we're much closer to an oil peak than most people acknowledge.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Russia and China provide cover for Assad’s Syria

The Toronto Star

In an op-ed to The Toronto Star, CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani argues that "as the death toll continues to rise above 5,000 Syrian lives, it is time to come to terms with the likelihood of a protracted stalemate."

Monday, January 23, 2012

Dear Mr Wolf… Reflections for the Magic Mountain

openEconomy (openDemocracy.net)

CIGI Senior Visiting Fellow Simon Zadek asks: Can Davos 2012 offer real alternatives or will it serve up a smiling, gritted-teeth espousal that "business as usual" can and should be sustained?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Art frames terror and security

Waterloo Region Record

In an op-ed to The Waterloo Region Record, CIGI Research Officer Michael Lawrence looks at how artists, like Daisy Rockwell, are contributing to discussions on global security.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

A World View of the Economy in 2012

Huffington Post Canada

In his latest to Huffington Post Canada, CIGI Distinguished Fellow Andrew Cooper looks at what some of the possible developments will be in the global economy for 2012.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Conservatives - Is it 1930 Already?

Huffington Post Canada

In light of David Cameron’s veto on a Euro-surveillance treaty, CIGI Distinguished Fellow Andrew Cooper looks at how echoes of the past are shaping British policy during hard economic times. Are contemporary Conservatives in the UK a far departure from those of the 1930s?

Friday, December 30, 2011

2012: the year of the unreasonable

The Guardian -- The Sustainable Business Blog, Huffington Post (Canada)

"Time will tell whether 2012 will be a disaster on the scale that Lagarde predicts, and let's hope not. But, as predictions go, one cannot go far wrong in saying that 2012 is going to be ghastly for, quite literally, hundreds of millions of people," warns CIGI Senior Visiting Fellow Simon Zadek.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Brazil: South America’s tiger

The Toronto Star

CIGI Distinguished Fellow Jorge Heine writes in The Toronto Star that "twenty years from now, we can expect to see Brazil as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as the prime leader of a South America that will have become one of the most vigorous and prosperous regions of the world, and as a key international player."

Saturday, December 24, 2011

We’re losing our past to technology

The Globe and Mail

"Today’s information technology is creating what we might call an Age of Ephemera. Our unprecedented ability to store and transfer gargantuan amounts of information obscures this information’s modern fragility," argues Thomas Homer-Dixon, CIGI Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

On Land Lost and Justice Bought

The Mark

In an op-ed to The Mark, CIGI Research Officer Geoff Burt recounts his experience in Haiti and writes that "the lack of land titles leaves Haiti’s poor at the mercy of anyone with the means to take advantage of the confusion and snatch disputed land."

Monday, December 12, 2011

Climate summit was a pathetic exercise in deceit

The Globe and Mail

In an op-ed to The Globe and Mail, CIGI Chair of Global Systems Thomas Homer-Dixon writes that "dealing with climate change is a prerequisite for prosperity this century – for all people on this planet."