The CDA Institute held its 14th annual graduate student symposium on 27-28 October 2011, in Currie Hall at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.
Cash prizes were awarded to the top three presenters at $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively. These individuals, along with those placing fourth and fifth place were complimented by a signed copy Chris Alexander’s book The Long Way Back: Afghanistan’s Quest for Peace.
First place was awarded to Chris Roberts of the University of Alberta for his presentation “The Persistent Salience of a Marginalized Continent: The Canadian Forces in Africa since the Independence Era.”
Second place was awarded to Jeremy Stuart of the University of Calgary for his presentation “The Industrial Front: The Canadian Experience in Industrial Mobilization, WWI and WWII.”
Third place was awarded to Philip Martin of Carleton University for his presentation “Sharing Power after Deadly Conflict: Do Inclusive Institutions Work After the Fighting Stops?”
Fourth place was awarded to Rebecca Jensen of the University of Calgary for her presentation “Considerations other than war—a Century of Change in Canada’s Military.”
Fifth Place was awarded to Rachael Bryson of the University of Calgary for her presentation “Cooperation or Contention? Russian Foreign Policy in the Arctic.”
Keynote Speakers
BGen (Ret’d) Serge Labbé, Senior Strategic Partner, Agriculture and Rural Development Ministries, Office of the NATO SCR, Kabul
Dr. Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Centre for Security Sector Management, Cranfield University (currently the McNaughton-Vanier Visiting Chair, Royal Military College of Canada)
LCol Ian Hope, PhD, commanding officer Task Force Orion (Afghanistan), 2006
PANEL I — Those who Exercise Force: a changing landscape of actors and their roles
“Mercenaries and Private Military Firms: Conceptual and Definitional Problems.”
Aaron Ettinger, Queen’s University
“Considerations other than war—a Century of Change in Canada’s Military.”
Rebecca Jensen, University of Calgary
“The National Security Era: Defending Canada from Non-Traditional Security Threats.”
Leanne Smythe, University of British Columbia
“Why ask the obvious? –A Model of Understanding Village Susceptibility to Insurgency, a Case study of Southwest Dand Sept-Dec 2010.”
David Fascinato, University of Ottawa
PANEL II — Challenges in Canadian Procurement Policies: learning from the past
“Military Equipment Procurement in Canada: A Problem Riddled Saga.”
Ian MacMillan, Memorial University
“An Arrow Through the Giant: How the Avro Arrow Changed U.S. Defence Procurement Policy.”
Allen Pietrobon, American University
“The Industrial Front: The Canadian Experience in Industrial Mobilization, WWI and WWII.”
Jeremy Stuart, University of Calgary
PANEL III — Actors on the World Stage: now and in the coming years
“Friends, Threats and Realities: The Future of Canadian Security and Defence Alliances.”
Uri Marantz, University of Michigan/University of Windsor
“Friend or Foe? Deconstructing the US-Pakistan Alliance.”
Ruth Richert, University of Calgary
“NATO’s Future—Uncertain, but not Nonexistent.”
Radu Venter, Royal Military College of Canada
PANEL IV — Arctic Strategies: who’s playing and what are they playing for?
“Is Competition for the North Heating up? Canadian Arctic Sovereignty in the 21st Century.”
Dru Lauzon and Brandon Tozzo, Queen’s University
“The Chinese Panda Bear or the Chinese Dragon? Analyzing China’s threats to Canada’s Arctic Interests.”
Conal Slobodin, Carleton University
“Canadian Security Policy in the Arctic and Canada-Russia Relations in this Context.”
Amina Abdullayeva, University of Toronto
PANEL V — Non-Traditional Security Concerns: energy
“The Russia-Ukraine gas dispute of January 2009 and its consequences: An energy security crisis in the European region.”
Maria Habanikova, University of Ottawa
“Security Dimensions of Energy Conduits: A means of Continental Integration, Vassalization, or Terrorization?”
Milosz Zak, University of Toronto
“Cooperation or Contention? Russian Foreign Policy in the Arctic.”
Rachael Bryson, University of Calgary
PANEL VI — Snapshots from Africa: tracing patterns between countries
“The Persistent Salience of a Marginalized Continent: The Canadian Forces in Africa since the Independence Era.”
Chris Roberts, University of Alberta
“The Disregarded Threat of Female Combatants: Northern Uganda, a case study.”
Kimberly Pavelich, University of Calgary
“The Assurance of Stability: Canada’s Military Engagement with the Tanzanian People’s Defense Force.”
Charles Thomas, University of Texas at Austin, West Point
“Extracting Resources of (In)security: Locating the Role of Canadian MNCs in the Political Economy of Security in Africa.”
Nadège Campaoré, Queen’s University
PANEL VII — Managing Proliferation: theories, institutions, and policies
“Déterminants de l’offre de prolifération: vers une théorie interactive des échanges nucléaires militaires bilatéraux.”
Irving Lewis, Université Laval
“The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy Under the Obama Administration.”
Navid Hassibi, University of Antwerp
“Biological Weapons in the Twenty-First Century: Threats without Borders, Enemies without States.”
Amanda Stuart-Ross, University of Calgary
PANEL VIII — Non-Traditional Security Concerns 2: cyber
“The Canadian Cyber Security Strategy: Efforts to Mitigate Emerging Asymmetric Threats.”
Anton Bezglasnyy, University of British Columbia
“Canadian Cyber Security Policies: Failing on All Fronts.”
Evan Rankin, University of Toronto
“Securing Canadian Cyberspace: Policy Options for Canada’s National Defence.”
James Tay, University of Toronto
PANEL IX — Rebuilding Nation States: the CF in three different decades
“Canada, Biafra and the Aborted Quest for a Commonwealth Peacekeeping Force for Nigeria, 1967-1968.”
Alec Lalonde, Royal Military College of Canada
“Opinion de la population civile face a l’intervention militaire de la communauté internationale lors des opérations de maintien de la paix : le cas de la
Bosnie-Herzégovine.”
Mathieu Proulx, Université de Montréal
PANEL X — Regimes in Transition: from uprisings to new constitutions
“Lessons from the Arab Awakening: Understanding and Anticipating Regime Responses to Popular Unrest.”
meghan Gregory, Georgetown University
“Sharing Power after Deadly Conflict: Do Inclusive Institutions Work After the Fighting Stops?”
Philip Martin, Carleton University
“The Role of Process Legitimacy in Post-Conflict Constitution Making.”
Alexander Hudson, University of Waterloo
“Policing Pluralism in Transitional Countries: New Prospects for Police Reform.”
Gaëlle Rivard Piché, Carleton University
PANEL XI — Security Culture in Canada?: looking through micro and macro cases
“Have we Secured an Open Society?: A review in Canada’s National Security Policy.”
Mark Williams, Carleton University
“Not Just Red: Social Capital Analysis in the Contemporary Operating Environment?”
Captain Christian Breede, Royal Military College of Canada
“Une approche séquentielle de l’analyse de la carrière militaire.”
Pascal Doray Demers, University of British Columbia
“Female Canadian Forces’ Members Involvement in Combat in Afghanistan.”
Krystel Carrier-Sabourin, Royal Military College of Canada