This panel will explore how the domestic context in Iraq will shape the future of the international presence in the country over the coming 12 months.
Our three speakers, who have extensive knowledge of the situation on the ground in Iraq, will analyze how developments in Iraq will affect members of the international coalition against the Islamic State, including Canada.
We are fortunate to also have Ulric Shannon, Ambassador of Canada to Iraq, to provide opening remarks before our panel discussion.
Opening Remarks
Ulric Shannon, Ambassador of Canada to Iraq
Ulric Shannon (BA Hons [History and Political Science], McGill University, 1997; MA [International Relations and Security Studies], York University, 1998) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1999. At Headquarters, he was a desk officer in both the Regional Security and Peacekeeping Division and the Eastern and Southern Africa Division, executive assistant to the assistant deputy minister for global and security policy, and director of the Media Relations Office from 2010 to 2012. Overseas, he served as political and public affairs officer in Cairo from 2004 to 2006, senior political officer in Ramallah from 2006 to 2008 and first secretary in Islamabad from 2008 to 2010. He was awarded the departments foreign-language fellowship to pursue advanced studies in Arabic from 2012 to 2013, and for two months in 2012 he served as Canadas first representative to the Syrian opposition. From 2014 to 2016, he worked in Istanbul as country director for ARK, a stabilization consultancy. Most recently, he was consul general in Istanbul.
Panelists
Dr. Megan Connelly
Dr. Megan Connelly is a Non-Resident Fellow at IRIS. She was also a fellow of the Jaeckle Center for Law, Democracy, and Governance at University at Buffalo. Her current research focuses on the legal history of local governments in the Kurdistan Region and their place within Iraqs federal framework.
Mera Bakr
Mera Bakr is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Regional and International Studies (IRIS) based at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. At IRIS, he primarily focuses on security issues and has contributed to several IRIS research projects. He has been published by international and local outlets such as The Middle East Institute, Fikra Forum of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, The Jerusalem Post, Niqash and 1001 Iraqi Thoughts.
Dr. Renad Mansour
Dr Renad Mansour is a senior research fellow and project director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House. He is also a senior research fellow at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. Mansour was previously a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he taught the international relations of the Middle East. He is a co-author of Once Upon a Time in Iraq, published by BBC Books/Penguin to accompany the critically acclaimed BBC series.
Moderator
Dr. Thomas Juneau
Thomas Juneau is an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. His research focuses mostly on the Middle East, in particular on Iran and Yemen. He is also interested in Canadian foreign and defence policy, in the relationship between intelligence and policy, and in international relations theory. He is the author of Squandered Opportunity: Neoclassical realism and Iranian foreign policy (Stanford University Press, 2015), editor of Strategic Analysis in Support of International Policy-Making: Case studies in achieving analytical relevance (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), co-editor of Iranian Foreign Policy since 2001: Alone in the world (Routledge, 2013), and co-editor of Asie centrale et Caucase: Une sécurité mondialisée (Presses de lUniversité Laval, 2004). He has also published many articles and book chapters on the Middle East, international relations theories and pedagogical methods, notably in International Affairs, International Studies Perspectives, Political Science Quarterly, Middle East Policy, Orbis, International Journal, and Canadian Foreign Policy Journal. Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, he worked for the Department of National Defence from 2003 to 2014, chiefly as a strategic analyst covering the Middle East. He was also a policy officer and an assistant to the deputy minister.