Posts tagged as:

globalization

Heteropolis Rising: World Order in the 21st Century

January 30, 2012

In the previous post,  I argued that the short-lived era of unipolar American hegemony has given way to  a new international dispensation best characterized as heteropolar rather than multipolar. This metamorphosis may be attributed mainly to a series of colossal strategic misjudgements and the profusion of diverse sources of power and influence globally. [...]

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Heteropolarity, Security and Diplomacy: Not the Same Old, Same Old

January 16, 2012

Almost a decade ago, at an annnual conference of the International Studies Association, I heard my colleague James Der Derian from Brown University use the word heterpolar to describe the new world order. I had not come across the term before, and was uncertain as to its precise meaning. Still,  it struck me at the [...]

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The Retreat From Internationalism – Part II

November 29, 2011

In the last entry, I tried to illustrate how changes in domestic Canadian politics, in combination with the imposition of capacity reductions on the Department of Foreign Affairs, had contributed to a turn away from this country’s internationalist traditions. Today, I continue that line of inquiry with an exploration of the profound shifts in the [...]

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Canada and the world post-9/11: What has been learned?

September 10, 2011

Looking back over decade since 9/11, what events and developments stand out globally? Among others:

The ongoing Global War on Terror and associated Western military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The hollowing out of the middle class, the financial crisis and the continuing Great Recession.

The lost opportunities to support non-violent political reform during the Arab Spring.

9/11 changed [...]

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Sitting on a Powder Keg

August 13, 2011

One of the defining characteristics of globalization is its tendency to produce winners and losers by polarizing, economically, socially and politically, within and between nations.
Globalization’s benefits have been privatized, while its costs have been socialized.  The appearance of severe inequalities – in incomes, opportunities, and future prospects [...]

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The New Threat Set: Humanity’s Race Against Time

May 30, 2011

From May 18-20th in Oslo, Norway, along with participants from some 40 countries and organizations around the world, I attended an “experts workshop” on Science, Technology and Innovation to Address Global Challenges. The meeting was organized jointly under OECD auspices by the Norwegian and German Ministries of Education and Research
The agenda included presentations and discussions [...]

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Days of Future Past – Part II

March 31, 2011

Editor’s Note. A few days ago I received an email from one of my younger brothers. While cleaning out some old files, he came across a paper which I had sent along for comment back in the spring of 1993. It was entitled At the Crossroads and had been prepared for delivery [...]

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Days of Future Past – Part I

March 31, 2011

Editor’s Note. A few days ago I received an email from one of my younger brothers. While cleaning out some old files, he came across a paper which I had sent along for comment back in the spring of 1993. It was entitled At the Crossroads and had been [...]

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Ferment in North Africa: A Guerrilla Diplomacy Take

February 1, 2011

Stand-off in Tunis.
Riots in Khartoum
Cairo burning.
In the erstwhile global village, which today looks more like an island patchwork of  heavily guarded, gated communities surrounded by an angry sea of seething shantytowns, the relentless forces of globalization continue to transform world politics. Cairo is the current, and increasingly turbulent epicentre, but many [...]

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The World’s Oyster? Rethinking Canada as the Globalization Nation

June 22, 2010

With the G8/G20 meetings about to begin, the attention of the international media will inevitably, if fleetingly, focus on Canada. What kind of impression might be conveyed?
For journalists prepared to eschew the backdrops, sound bites and briefing books and to venture beyond the sterile secure areas, there may be a few surprises.
Even the least intrepid [...]

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Whither Development?

July 3, 2009

Or, should that be withered development…?
It was not that long ago that terms such as  “international development”,  “development cooperation”, “development assistance” and even “aid” were in heavy rotation in the discourse on international relations. This was true not only in places like the United Nations, but also in many capitals, great and small.
Today development, like [...]

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Grappling with Globalization

May 24, 2009

Working in a foreign ministry is as good a place as any, and better than most, to observe the world in transition.  I did it for 28 years. From that vantage point, it was near impossible to avoid thinking about why diplomacy has been performing so dismally, especially in recent years when diplomats have been [...]

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Lashings of Insight – Part II

April 1, 2009

One reason for the ISA’s enduring popularity is the sheer variety of presentations on offer. Anyone weary at the prospect of attending yet another panel on, say, constructivist critiques of neo-colonialism, or a reconsideration of the English School perspective on regional integration, can simply browse the telephone book-like ISA program and almost certainly find something [...]

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Diplomatic Surge? Part II – The things we carry

February 22, 2009

I would attribute the running down of diplomacy in recent years to a trio of developments related to the carry-over from the Cold War of certain habits of mind, or intellectual baggage, which have been hoisted into the globalization age from the preceding era. In a nutshell, in the face of the complex threats and [...]

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