Canada and the World Podcast Canada and the World Podcast

Over the past nine months, the Canada and the World podcast has discussed why foreign policy issues are important to us as Canadians. We would like to thank the guests who’ve contributed their expertise each week. Thank you also to our listeners — we hope you have enjoyed the program.

What keeps global economy experts up at night? Is it Brexit, Chinese debt, the impact of technology on work, or the “unknown unknowns” — those issues we haven’t yet anticipated? This episode convenes several guests who were in Washington, D.C. recently for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund. With host Bessma Momani, they discuss how long the current global slowdown could last, the impact of bad policy — or a lack of any policy at all — on living standards, and, despite the many areas of concern, why it is best to focus on being prepared for crisis.

Our host

Bessma Momani is professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She’s also a non-resident senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a 2015 Fellow at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She’s a frequent analyst and expert on international affairs in Canadian and global media.

This week’s guests

Rachel Ziemba is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Her research focuses on the interlinkages between economics, finance and security issues. She previously served as head of emerging and frontier markets and co-head of research at Roubini Global Economics, a global macro strategy and country risk firm. Before that, Rachel also worked for the Canadian International Development Agency in Cairo, Egypt, and the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Canada on development economic issues.

Babak Abbaszadeh is president and chief executive officer of non-profit organization Toronto Centre. Previously, Babak held leadership positions in major internationally oriented Canadian financial institutions such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Sun Life Financial. Babak was also chief of staff to two senior cabinet ministers.

Bob Fay is director of the Centre for International Governance Innovation’s Global Economy Program and is responsible for the research direction of the program and its related activities. Prior to joining CIGI, Bob held several senior roles at the Bank of Canada, most recently as senior director overseeing work to assess developments and implications arising from the digitization of the Canadian economy.

Tom Bernes is a distinguished fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation. After a distinguished career in the Canadian public service and at leading international economic institutions, Tom was CIGI’s executive director from 2009 to 2012. He has held high-level positions at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Government of Canada.

Months of protest in Sudan and Algeria have led to the departures of long-time leaders Omar al-Bashir and Abdelaziz Bouteflika, respectively. But the protests are not over. This episode explores what is behind the civilian movements in both countries, how they are similar and how they differ, from the role of youth, technology, and economic and political grievances. Is there a role for the diaspora in these movements? How do foreign states, such as the United States and Canada, fit into the picture? This week’s guests also examine what these movements have learned from past failures, in particular those within the Arab Spring, and whether it is truly possible to break the cycle of corrupt leadership and rebuild a country.


Our host
Bessma Momani is professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She’s also a non-resident senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a 2015 Fellow at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She’s a frequent analyst and expert on international affairs in Canadian and global media.

This week’s guests

Rim-Sarah Alouane is an international human rights researcher and PhD candidate in comparative law at the University Toulouse Capitole in France. Her work focuses on religious freedom, civil liberties and Algeria.

Khalid Mustafa Medani is an assistant professor of political science and Islamic studies at McGill University in Montreal. His work focuses on Egypt, Somalia and the Darfur crisis, among other topics.

Amir Ahmad Nasr is a Toronto-based writer, artist, activist and digital media entrepreneur. From 2006 to 2012, he was better known as Drima, the formerly anonymous voice behind the blog The Sudanese Thinker. He is the author of My Isl@m: How Fundamentalism Stole My Mind — and Doubt Freed My Soul.

Twenty-five years after the genocide against the Tutsi began in Rwanda, in April, 1994, this episode takes a look at the lessons learned since then, for media, peacekeepers and communities that have lived through conflict and violence. Joining host Bessma Momani is genocide survivor Régine Uwibereyeho King, author Allan Thompson and researchers Timothy Donais and Eric Tanguay. They explain why this was indeed a global event, not just a Rwandan event, and what kind of wake up call it gave to journalists, media consumers and the United Nations. The gap still exists between what protection is promised to civilians in harm’s way and what is actually given, but has the gap lessened? How far have we come in learning how to prevent such an atrocity, which saw 800,000 to 1 million people killed in 100 days?

Our host

Bessma Momani is professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She’s also a non-resident senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a 2015 Fellow at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She’s a frequent analyst and expert on international affairs in Canadian and global media.

This week’s guests

Timothy Donais is the director of the Masters in International Policy program, associate director of the PhD program in Global Governance and associate professor in the Department of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. He also serves as the chair of the Peace and Conflict Studies Association of Canada.

Eric Tanguay is a PhD candidate with the Balsillie School of International Affairs. His current research focuses primarily on the recent history of political and ethnic violence in Kenya; the politicization of ethnicity; the role of civil society organizations in shaping political consciousness and identity; and the role of memory and history in facilitating conflict resolution and post-conflict reconciliation. Eric completed his Master’s degree in history at Wilfrid Laurier.

Régine Uwibereyeho King is an associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. She has a Ph.D. from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. As a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, she has dedicated her life to social justice, human rights for all, and healthy communities.

Allan Thompson is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, where he leads the book project Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond. Allan joined the faculty of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication in 2003, after 17 years as a reporter with The Toronto Star.

With the release of their new book, Empty Planet, authors Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson join podcast host Bessma Momani in Waterloo, Ontario, for a discussion around questioning what appears to be “settled science” around population growth. Will the world’s population continue to grow until it hits 11 billion, or will it plateau around 9 billion and then start to decline? The authors share stories and insights from their research for their book, which took them to all corners of the world, and explain how communities with very different economic circumstances, especially women, are offering the same message: as the world becomes increasingly urban, they want to limit the number of children they will have. How does such a projection reshape the way we understand environmental and economic policy? What have projections until now not taken into account? Listen this week to find out.

Our host

Bessma Momani is professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She’s also a non-resident senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a 2015 Fellow at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She’s a frequent analyst and expert on international affairs in Canadian and global media.

This week’s guests

Darrell Bricker is chief executive officer of Ipsos Public Affairs, the world’s leading social and opinion research firm. Prior to joining Ipsos, Bricker was director of Public Opinion Research in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Carleton University.

John Ibbitson is writer-at-large for the Globe and Mail, having also served as chief political writer, political affairs columnist and bureau chief in Washington and Ottawa. His previous political books include the national number-one bestselling, The Big Shift (with Darrell Bricker), The Polite Revolution: Perfecting the Canadian Dream and Open and Shut: Why America Has Barack Obama and Canada Has Stephen Harper.

Canada and The World is produced by Trevor Hunsberger and edited by Francy Goudreault.

Is there peace to keep in Mali? This episode looks at the complex political, economic and security landscape in Mali and the Sahel region as a whole. What do Canada’s 250 troops contribute to the peacekeeping mission? Is it enough? Is the Canadian government reflecting enough on the actions and potential impact Canadian mining companies have there? Three junior scholars — all experts on various Africa-related topics — join Bessma Momani to talk about the angles less heard when it comes to West Africa (including the cheerier topic of African cinema!).

Our host
Bessma Momani is professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and University of Waterloo and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She’s also a non-resident senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a 2015 Fellow at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She’s a frequent analyst and expert on international affairs in Canadian and global media.

This week's guests
Ousmane Aly Diallo is a Ph.D. candidate and a doctoral fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. His dissertation thesis focuses on the crisis in Mali (2012-) and its impact on security governance in West Africa and the understanding of ‘regions’ by security actors. Ousmane is also part of a multi-year research project on the influence of the informal economy on the patterns of political violence, and in the behaviours of non-state armed groups in Northern Mali.

Nadège Compaoré is a Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo. Prior to BSIA, she was a Research Analyst at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Social Science at York University. Her work lies at the intersection of international relations, global political economy and international law scholarships, which guide her analysis of global and regional governance measures targeting the oil, gas and mining industries in Africa.

Abdiasis Issa is a Ph.D. candidate, Global Governance program, at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. Abdi specializes in international security, regionalism and African development.

Canada and The World is produced and edited by Matthew Markudis.