The first session of the 2012 Japan Futures Initiative Spring Symposium examined energy security challenges for Japan and the world in the wake of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. The discussant was Julia Kulik, University of Toronto. Panellists were as follows: Akira Igata (Doctoral Student in the Graduate School of Law, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, and Working Group Member, Independent Investigation Commission on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident); John Kirton (Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; Director of the G8 Research Group, and Co-Director of the G20 Research Group at the Munk School of Global Affairs); James Manicom (SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, ON).

With China's emergence as a world economic superpower, its role in global governance is also seen as an area of potential growth for the Middle Kingdom. But despite the country's growing clout, Hongying Wang, visiting associate professor at the University of Waterloo, says that China is an "under-participant" in global governance, given its size and strategic importance in world politics.

With twin crises in Syria and Iran becoming increasingly challenging to solve diplomatically, this week Inside the Issues talks to Paul Heinbecker, long-time Canadian diplomat and former ambassador to the United Nations.

Following the recent CIGI-Institute for New Economic Thinking conference Sovereign Debtors in Distress, Pierre Siklos explains how European countries have become indebted in an unsustainable manner, and what financial mechanisms and policy options exist for states on the verge of default.