Canada’s Intervention Dilemma

Branch Working Group on Canada’s Intervention Dilemma: Matching Interests, Objectives and Means

Halifax, Nova Scotia

This Branch Working Group, which has been formed by Drs. David Black, Ann Griffiths and Michael MacKinnon, will examine the issue “Canada’s Intervention Dilemma” through a multi-phase approach that will include this opening workshop, a public seminar and a publication process.

The overall objective of this Branch Working Group is twofold:

• Identify effective contributions Canada can make to multinational peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations that do not require significant military contingents.  (I.e., promote a more engaged Canadian policy in a select number of priority missions as opposed to placing all resources into just one major operation at a time.);
• Identify operational and practical reforms the Canadian government can undertake to maximise efficiencies through the “Whole of Government” approach once a decision to intervene is made.

The Group aims to address the issue of Canada’s intervention dilemma by: 1) discussing the strategic environment in which Canadian policy-makers find themselves today; 2) examining recent experiences of Canada and other governments in complex peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions; and, 3) debating possible policy recommendations intended to increase the effectiveness of Canadian contributions to multilateral interventions.

The workshop intends to bring together a small yet wide-ranging group of knowledgeable government officials and NGO representatives with operational experience (especially with the Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan case studies) to discuss the core questions and identify the most promising policy areas that might yield new or refined recommendations to policy-makers.  The Group’s members will produce a brief framing document in advance of the workshop to set the initial scope of the issue(s) and discussion.  Ideally, this workshop will provide the Group’s members with a clear sense as to the most pressing operational and practical reforms from the perspective of the participants.  This discussion should confirm and prioritise the next research steps for the Working Group and pave the way for the production of the first draft of the Group’s report.

It is hoped that the 31 March workshop will set the stage for a productive research exercise that will result in a number of policy recommendations aimed at all relevant decision-makers in Ottawa, but, in particular, DND, DFAIT, CIDA, RCMP and the PMO/PCO.

Project

Phase One: Workshop
The Branch Working Group will convene a workshop early in the course of its work to bring together a mix of knowledgeable government officials, NGO representatives and academics to discuss the core questions and identify the most promising policy areas that might yield new or refined recommendations to policy makers. The Study Group’s members will produce a framing document in advance of the workshop to set the initial scope of the issue(s) and discussion.

Phase Two: Producing First Draft and Seminar
After digesting the results of the workshop, the Group’s members will take three to four months to produce a detailed first draft of the final report. This draft will be roughly 20 pages long. Once prepared, the first draft of the report will be presented at an open seminar. Formal critiques will be provided by a panel of experts (academics, NGOs and government officials). The panel’s composition will likely be a mix of individuals who attended the workshop and a couple of individuals who did not.

Phase Three: Final Draft
The input received from the seminar and other sources will be incorporated by the Branch Working Group’s members into a final draft report. This last drafting phase will span three to four months and result in a final report between 20 and 25 pages.

Participants

Dr. Michael MacKinnon is a graduate of Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, (BA, Hons, 1993) and the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva (DES 1996, PhD 2005). He has lectured in the political science departments of three different Halifax-based universities since 2002 and is a research fellow at Dalhousie University’s Centre for Foreign Policy Studies. In 2006-07, MacKinnon was a member of the consulting team tasked to produce a Mission Start-Up field guide for the United Nations’ Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). In addition, MacKinnon worked in the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the advance mission, UNAMIS. He has held positions with the DPKO in New York, the Canadian Mission to the UN in New York, the UN’s disarmament research institute (UNIDIR) in Geneva and served as a political consultant to the Republic of Korea’s mission to the UN in Geneva.

Dr. Ann Griffiths currently teaches part-time in the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University. She is also the publications editor for the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University. Her research interests are peacebuilding, democratization, human rights, federalism and security.

Dr. David Black is Professor of International Development Studies and Political Science at Dalhousie University, and is currently the Chair of the Department of IDS. He has served on the Executive Council of the Canadian Consortium on Human Security (CCHS), as well as its Co-Director, and is on the Executive of the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID). His current research focuses primarily on Canada’s role(s) in Sub-Saharan Africa, including developmental, security, investment, and diplomatic dimensions. His research and publications have also focused on human rights in Canadian and South African foreign policies, the “new” South Africa in Africa, and Sport and World Politics.