A Canadian Republic (with a new anthem to boot)
It is worth remembering, every once in a while, that Canada remains a constitutional monarchy. Precisely because the monarchy has no de facto power, most of us - myself included…
bazie
Middle powers, Great Powers, and incentives in war
Many, but certainly not all, US led military campaigns share a common element: a widespread international coalition that supports and participates in the campaigns. We will see that it is…
Incentives in Prosecuting Dictators
The International Criminal Court has recently sought the arrest of Qaddafi, and others in the Libyan regime, for crimes against humanity. Justified, surely, but is this move wise? To answer…
On the Hydraulic Thesis
The Hydraulic Thesis is related to the interplay between the rise of states in certain societies and the production of large scale irrigation and other 'hydraulic' systems that increase per…
Afghan public opinion and it’s consequences
If we care about the Afghan people, and if we believe in democracy as a normative system for determining what is best for a people, it becomes imperative when conducting…
Palin & Co.: Vote with your clicks
As the sometimes tedious nomination process for the 2012 GOP nominee continues along we have been treated to the usual asymmetry in the media's attention to this process towards the…
Canada supports 1967 borders after all despite blocking this position at G8
Faced with significant pressure, Harper's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has affirmed that Canada does, in fact, support Obama's position of using the 1967 borders with land swaps as a…
Right to Exist: An Inflated Conflict
If one follows the negotiation process over the years between Israel and Palestine, one finds an asymmetry between the issues raised and argued for in the negotiation process and the…
Canada dutifully fulfills the US’s role towards Israel
Canadian policy and rhetoric has been staunchly pro-Israel for a long a time. It is a stance which, especially with Harper at the helm, arguably resulted in Canada's inability to…
The left needs to reconsider public funding of parties
With Harper's recent majority it was inevitable that his party would start pushing through policies that were not politically possible when they only had a minority. The first major example…
SlutWalk and Sluts
The fact that SlutWalk has rapidly ballooned into a multinational protest movement from an ill-spoken comment by a Toronto policeman represents a distinct and poignant feeling latent in our societies.…
Harper’s anti-democratic senate appointments.
Harper has appointed three senate seats from among his party. Here is the kicker: these people just lost their election campaigns to be MP's. Opposed to supporting democratic influences it…
On Faith and Inductive Logic
Perhaps largely due to its strong religious associations, the word 'faith' is often significantly abused by both sides of the religious debate. The result has been some consistent misconceptions about…
Western media coverage of the recent border protests around Israel
Consider this Globe and Mail story detailing the protests met with deadly force that have occurred on the Israeli border in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. It does an acceptable job…
Our reactions to homeless people
It is quite natural to feel some sense of revulsion towards homeless people. They may be smelly, unclean, imposing on our presence and saying strange things; this kind of appearance…
After an election about personalities, not policies, we can and must do better
We have just witness an election which while historic in many ways was not one of any significance in terms of a discussion of actual issues or policies. The political…
The Liberal party needs to play a long game on leadership
After its crushing defeat on May 2nd, the Liberal party has some considerable soul searching to do. Not least among its problems is the task that has recently proved most…
TFSAs and progressive savings policies
With Harper's majority secured, it is quite likely that the popular Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA's) will double the allowable contributions to $10k per year by 2014. There is a…
Electoral math II: vote splitting in the Liberal ridings the Conservatives won
While there was an enormous transfer of seats towards the NDP from the Bloc and to a lesser extent the Liberals, the Conservatives managed to move from a minority to…
Electoral Math I: Vote Splitting and the NDP+Liberal merger hypothesis
This historic election has seen the complete collapse of the Bloc Québécois and the decline in the Liberal party to historic lows while propelling the Conservatives to a majority government…