News

As Canada’s final court of appeal, the Supreme Court is a crucial component of the country’s legal system. Yet, for much of its almost 140-year history, the highest court in the land dwelled in relative obscurity. More than thirty years since the advent of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which transformed the court’s function and thrust its work into the national spotlight, many of us are still in the dark about the Supreme Court’s role -- in part because there has been relatively little empirical investigation into how the institution works.

Professor Richard Nutbrown, professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, passed away peacefully on July 12, 2012. Having joined the Department in 1982, Professor Nutbrown served in the Department for nearly thirty years. The Department of Political Science will be holding a memorial service for Prof. Nutbrown in the fall term.

Angela Carter, PhD (Cornell)
Political economy; Comparative politics; Environmental policy

Emmett Macfarlane, PhD (Queen's)
Canadian politics, Public policy, Supreme Court of Canada, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Comparative politics of Rights

Sarah Eaton, PhD (Toronto)
Chinese political economy; Chinese politics; Comparative political economy; International political economy; Asian regionalism 

"Winners and losers from the crisis: On financial prudence and the re-configuration of generosity” at the German Development Institute (DIE) in Bonn, Germany, July 26.

George Clooney, Bono, Angelina Jolie... They are all part of a growing "celebrity" diplomatic corps. We might be prepared to change our favourite brand of shampoo because of a celebrity endorsement – but are decision makers really changing their policy thanks to stars? And more importantly, should they be doing so?

From "France 24: Celebrity Diplomacy: Fad or Phenomenon?"
 

Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) Chair and Professor of Political Science Kathryn Hochstetler and Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) PhD student Manjana Milkoreit are attending the 17th Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The COP meets from November 28-December 9 in Durban, South Africa.

Kathryn Hochstetler will be delivering two presentations on the role of emerging powers in global environmental politics in early November.  At a international symposium on ecological debt at Sciences Po in Paris, she will speak about whether the rise of emerging powers like Brazil, India, and China affects understandings of ecological debt.  At the conference "Human Rights and the Global Economy" at the New School in New York City, she will present a paper on Climate Rights and Obligations of Emerging States.

The Brookings-led panel of 14 of the world’s top financial stability experts features former finance ministers and central bank governors from Colombia, Spain, Thailand and Uganda, and includes Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) Chair in International Political Economy Eric Helleiner and CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani.

Veronica Kitchen was awarded a 2010 Ontario Early Researcher Award  for the project Integrated counter-terrorism institutions in comparative perspective.