Opposition leader Félix Tshisekedi was declared the winner of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) presidential elections held in late December 2018 and was inaugurated in January 2019. The transfer of power from former President Joseph Kabila, who ruled for eighteen years and had delayed elections multiple times, marked the first peaceful transfer of power in the…

Virtual Event – at the University of Ottawa 31 July, 2020 – 3-5 p.m Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, whereby their values and practices are accepted by the dominant culture, provided such are consistent with the laws and values of the wider…

Farzad Ramezani Bonesh Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs The July 2020 confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan did not open a new situation in the history of their conflict. But Turkey’s position on this issue is plausible. From the past, Turkey has been concerned about Armenian domination to parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas,…

Hamed Kazemzadeh This is not unfamiliar territory for Canada. Many of Canada’s recent foreign policy crises centre on the Middle East, such as major diplomatic disputes with Gulf states in 1979, 2010 and 2018. Within Canada bitter arguments regarding Israel-Palestine are commonplace and Canada’s decision not to support the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was deeply contested, too.  So, this begs a question, “What is…

Hamed Kazemzadeh had a short talk in the panel of Armed Conflict in SIPRI Debates of Stockholm Forum 2020. He mentioned that the pattern of armed conflict and peace processes in 2019 appeared to confirm the recent trend for a reversal of the post-cold war peace, but the picture is mixed. According to the UCDP,…

By Hamed Kazemzadeh Rising rates of cybercriminal activities occur as threat actors observe the flourishing economies in the Middle East. These activities can range from the opportunistic data breaches to more targeted attacks, and increasing use of ransomware by threat actor groups. As security professionals in this region plan for 2021, here are the top…

Hamed Kazemzadeh This is true for a number of reasons, including: the high exposure of many fragile states to climate risks; their economic reliance on climate-dependent sectors (particularly rain-fed agriculture); and their histories of conflict, poverty and weak governance, which all serve to increase vulnerability to climate change. A failure to consider and address climate change and…