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Signature Lecture Series

From September to May each year, CIGI Signature Lectures are presented on important international topics to raise public awareness and understanding on a variety of current global issues. This series features some of the most prominent and acclaimed figures in their respective areas of global governance.

In the Video Series

Caught in the Headlines: Everyday Voices in World News

Steve Paikin, Doug Saunders and more
Thursday, June 13, 2013
CIGI and the CIC Waterloo proudly present the sixth annual media panel, where leading journalists discuss “people stories” in world events.

Leading From Beside

Joe Clark
Monday, May 27, 2013
Former Canadian PM, The Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, notes that the modern shift in power in the world is not only among states, but between state and non-state actors.

Squaring the Circle: The Millennium Development Goals, Post-2015

Barry Carin, Mukesh Kapila and more
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
This panel discussed how to make sense of the wide-ranging debates surrounding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) post-2015.

The Inequality Gap: A Social Protection Floor for an Inclusive Crisis Recovery

Isabel Ortiz
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Isabel Ortiz visits the CIGI Campus to discuss the affordability of a social protection floor as well as the high costs of keeping people excluded.

Sex and the Citadel

Bessma Momani and Shereen El Feki
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Vice-Chair of the UN's Global Commission on HIV and Law Shereen El Feki takes an innovative look at shifting sexual attitudes and behaviour in the Arab world.

The Changing U.S. Electorate: America and the World

Thomas Edsall
Thursday, February 28, 2013
U.S. policy will largely be influenced by two factors in this presidential term: the “Rising American Electorate” and an increasingly polarized electorate.

Learning from the Octopus: Nature’s Lessons for Good Global Governance

Rafe Sagarin
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Rafe Sagarin presents an innovative theory on how nature can be applied to national security policies and the world’s most difficult political challenges.

Signature Lecture: Will The Crisis Ever End?

Olivier Blanchard
Friday, November 30, 2012
Olivier Blanchard analyzes the forces behind the weak recovery, discusses what may lay ahead, and the policies needed to strengthen growth and decrease risks.

Empathy or Death: Applying the Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 21st Century

Philip Brenner and Kingston Reif
Friday, October 26, 2012
Fifty years ago, the world as we know it came within a hair’s breadth of being destroyed. In the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, all the pieces...

Signature Lecture: "Obama, Romney and Iran"

Bruce Riedel
Monday, September 17, 2012
The West has been squeezing Iran relentlessly for years with a program of economic sanctions, a covert cyber-war and threatening Iran with military action.

Signature Lecture: The Responsibility to Protect and the Arab Spring

Bessma Momani and Lloyd Axworthy
Thursday, May 24, 2012
On May 24, the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, internationally recognized for promoting the human security concept, spoke on the Arab Spring and the R2P

Signature Lecture: Iran and the West: A Dialogue of Ambassadors

James Blight, janet Lang and more
Friday, April 13, 2012
Thomas Pickering and Hossein Mousavian discuss how to bring Iran in from the cold and how to deal with Iran’s determination to achieve nuclear weapons.

Signature Lecture: Japan's Contribution to Global Governance

David A. Welch and John Kirton
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
John Kirton, professor of political science at the Munk School of Global Affairs, discusses Japan's position, power, and place in the world.

Signature Lecture: "The Canada-US Innovation Partnership"

David B. Dewitt, Fred Kuntz and more
Thursday, March 1, 2012
On Feb. 29, the US Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, delivered a candid and wide-ranging talk on cross-border collaboration.

Event Video: "Geoengineering our Climate" Keynote and Panel Discussion

David B. Dewitt, Jason J. Blackstock and more
Thursday, January 26, 2012
On Jan. 18, a keynote and panel discussion kicked off a CIGI-sponsored conference on the science, ethics and governance of geoengineering.

Public Panel: Governance Blueprints from Global Leaders

Paul Martin, Ernesto Zedillo and more
Saturday, October 29, 2011
On Oct. 28, CIGI hosted former leaders Paul Martin and Ernesto Zedillo for a frank discussion on the G20 and global leadership.

Dan Drezner on "Zombies, G20 and International Relations"

Dan Drezner
Friday, October 28, 2011
On Oct. 26, Dan Drezner asked what would happen to international politics if the dead rose from the grave and started to eat the living.

Dr. James Orbinksi on Humanitarianism and Governance

David A. Welch and James Orbinski
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
"Like humanitarianism, politics is an imperfect project," Dr. James Orbinski said, as he kicked off this year's Signature Lecture Series at CIGI.

Predictive Failures in the Global Economic Crisis

Paul Jenkins, Ruben Lamdany and more
Thursday, June 2, 2011

Politics in Peace Building: Testing a New Approach to Egypt

Ben Rowswell
Thursday, May 19, 2011

Pakistan: A Hard Challenge for International Governance

Anatol Lieven
Tuesday, April 12, 2011

WikiLeaks: Security, Diplomacy and Global Gossip

Paul Heinbecker, Andrew Hunt and more
Friday, January 14, 2011

Jeff Rubin: Oil and the End of Globalization

Jeff Rubin
Friday, October 29, 2010

This Close to Nuclear War: McNamara’s Cuban Missile Crisis

David A. Welch, James Blight and more
Friday, October 29, 2010

Obama's War: The Conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Bruce Riedel
Thursday, April 29, 2010