May, 2010
Nuclear power “renaissance” in doubt: CIGI expert
CIGI Senior Fellow and Director of The Nuclear Energy Futures Project, Trevor Findlay , sits down with TVO’s Steve Paikin to discuss the recent report “The Future of Nuclear Energy to 2030 .” In the interview, Findlay warns that, in the short-term, nuclear energy is too costly and slow-moving to mitigate the oncoming effects of climate change.
Canada-India - The future of business and global politics with Douglas Goold
Douglas Goold shares his experience and insights on India, assessing and making recommendations on business, political and security relations between the two countries. Introduction by Professor Ryan Touhey, Assistant Professor at St. Jerome's University and former CIC researcher. This lecture is co-sponsored by CIGI and the Canadian International Council (CIC).
"Global Nuclear Challenges and Multilateral Responses" with Ambassador Dhanapala
Ambassador Dhanapala discusses global nuclear challenges and multilateral responses. Introduction by Ernie Regehr, CIGI Fellow, Global and Human Security. Co-Sponsored by Project Ploughshares.
Lying in International Politics with John Mearsheimer
Lying in International Politics The International Governance Speakers Series with John J. Mearsheimer
Rentier State Building In Afghanistan: A Political Economy View with Florian Kuehn
When statebuilding efforts are underway, we tend to focus on institutions and state agencies, economic development (growth) or the establishment of the rule of law. Little attention, however, is paid to how the new state organizes its economic reproduction. When external funds, which can be understood as rents in a sense well established in economics, dominate public budgets, political considerations will circle around securing the rent rather than responding to public demands for goods and services. However, states where rents originate from still paradoxically lack influence in theoncerned political process. In any way, state elites fail to acquire legitimacy that would be needed to secure sufficient public support and, in turn, stabilize the state. This presentation looks at how rentier mechanisms work, also taking the role of Afghanistan's drug rentiers into account. Counterintuitively, it argues, less funds and better targeted funds are important to provide legitimacy.