4. Programs

placeholder for programs

The Sahel’s Security Imperative: How Resurgent Jihadist Violence Challenges Africa’s and the West’s Economic Potential

Terrorism is no longer at the top of NATO’s agenda. After decades of war supporting the United States in its fight against terror, the pendulum has swung back to Europe. The war in Ukraine carries very clear security implications for NATO’s European members, who are rightly concerned that the emboldenment of a victorious Russia will lead to expanded aggression. At the same time, China has become a strategic competitor with military capacities that cannot be overlooked. As the alliance seeks to defend Europe, navigate the shifting priorities of the United States, and position itself to the threat of China, terrorism has become a secondary concern.

Society, Culture, and Security

Why Intangible Cultural Erasure is a Hard-Security Threat

In the occupied territories of Ukraine and across Russia’s own ethnic republics, President Vladimir Putin is executing a quiet war of attrition: banning native languages, shuttering local institutions, and sending minority youth to the frontlines as cannon fodder. This systematic campaign demonstrates that modern territorial expansion relies as much on eradicating living identity as it Read More…

NATO and Canada

Flags of Convenience: Russia’s Shadow Fleet and Canadian Maritime Security

Russia’s Shadow Fleet is more than a sanctions-enforcement issue. Despite the economic utility these intentionally ambiguous vessels present to Moscow, Jonah Moffatt argues its activities demonstrate how Russia has fused its economic, intelligence, and security interests into one overarching hybrid strategy. The increased prevalence of the shadow fleet in the Arctic requires Canada to not only recognize the security implications of this threat, but work towards a coordinated response strategy with its regional NATO allies.

Society, Culture, and Security

Why Kurdish Rights Matter to NATO

When modern state borders are superimposed onto an inherently diverse geography, centralized state systems often enforce strict administrative and cultural uniformity to align the human landscape with centralized state identities. This friction is acutely visible along NATO’s southeastern flank, where regional authorities frequently treat ethnic and administrative plurality as an inherent challenge to state sovereignty. Read More…

Tessa McDermid Women in Security

No Peace Without Women: Closing the Gender Gap in Peace Negotiations

Women remain largely absent from peace negotiations across the globe, despite data linking their participation to more durable agreements. In this piece, Tessa McDermid draws on a June 2026 UN Security Council debate on Women, Peace and Security to argue that NATO’s WPS policy gives the Alliance the tools to push Allies towards signing and implementing the UN’s Common Pledge on Women’s Participation in Peace Processes.

Bibi Hakim Women in Security

The Essequibo Flashpoint: What the Guyana-Venezuela Conflict Means for NATO Security

For decades, the Caribbean has shaped the world through its culture, cuisine, music, and vibrant traditions. Today, its influence is expanding into a new arena: energy, security, and strategic defence partnerships. The Essequibo dispute is no longer just a bilateral territorial disagreement. It has become a strategic issue with implications for energy security, great-power competition, and NATO’s wider security environment. In this special report, read how Guyana’s emergence as a major oil producer has elevated the geopolitical significance of the Guyana–Venezuela dispute, and why developments in the Caribbean now matter far beyond the region.

Canadian Armed Forces

Twenty Years After Medusa: What Canada’s Costliest Battle Still Demands of Us

This September marks twenty years since Operation Medusa — the battle that defined Canada’s war in Afghanistan and reshaped how the country saw its military. At the centre of it was Brigadier-General David Fraser, the officer running his country’s force in Kandahar and NATO’s southern command. Most retellings stop at the victory his forces won; Read More…

NATO and Canada

Canada’s Pivot from Washington to Europe and What This Recalibration Means for NATO

Rachel Potter examines Canada’s accelerating defence integration with the European Union, arguing that the durability of instruments like SAFE and Canada’s bilateral agreements with countries like Poland and Sweden reveal a structural recalibration rather than opportunistic hedging, one that positions Europe as a genuine alternative to Canada’s reliance on Washington and raises deeper questions about whether NATO’s traditional U.S.-anchored architecture can remain.

Canadian Armed Forces

Operation Medusa and Coalition Warfare: How NATO Can Learn From Canada in Afghanistan

Twenty years ago, the Canadian Armed Forces alongside NATO and Afghan allies, conducted Operation Medusa, the largest Canadian operation since the Second World War. Carried out in September of 2006, Op Medusa saw Canadian-led NATO forces successfully destroy a Taliban stronghold in the Panjwayi district. While the operation was Canadian-led, it represented the combined strength Read More…

Society, Culture, and Security

Powering Sovereignty: The Opportunities and Hidden Costs of Canada’s Data Centre Expansion

Recently, the use of artificial intelligence has increased exponentially. It has enmeshed itself in countless ways across our everyday lives. ChatGPT alone is estimated to process around 2.5 billion prompts per day. It is easy to think of AI as purely virtual, existing on the cloud, the internet, and the digital devices of its users. Read More…