Articles
Christy Lorenz Women in Security

Divide and Conquer: How Gender-Based Disinformation Weakens Western Militaries

This article examines misogyny and broader anti-gender ideology as under-recognized vectors of hybrid warfare that undermine NATO’s democratic resilience, military cohesion, and Alliance legitimacy. It argues that foreign adversaries exploit entrenched patriarchal and exclusionary narratives through gender-based disinformation to exacerbate polarization, target political actors, weaken trust in defence institutions, and delegitimize NATO. The article concludes that the principles of NATO’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) policy counter foreign disinformation by limiting the impact of harmful gendered narratives and reinforcing pluralism, and what can be done to strengthen democratic resilience and NATO’s collective defence in an era of hybrid conflict.
Morgan Singer Women in Security

Operation Equal Opportunity: Canada as a Model For Women in Combat Leadership

In July 2024, General Jennie Carignan became Canada’s first woman Chief of Defence Staff. This article centers her appointment as both a symbolic and institutional milestone in Canada’s effort to operationalize the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. Tracing her leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces, the article demonstrates how offering equal access to opportunity is a prerequisite for military strength. Gen. Carignan’s leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces offers an example for NATO allies, who can similarly dismantle barriers to women’s leadership and embed inclusive military ethos. The article prescribes a series of pathways through which NATO allies can pursue institutional reform, thereby enhancing institutional quality and strengthening collective defence posture across the Alliance.

Society, Culture, and Security

Special Report – Arma et Litterae: Reuniting Canada’s Civic Foundations

Author’s Note: This essay is offered as a conceptual case for the deliberate reintegration of Canada’s universities and Armed Forces as a matter of strategic sovereignty and civic resilience. It is informed by the development of the Serving Scholar Program at the University of Guelph, an initiative designed to support students serving in the Canadian Read More…
Indo-Pacific and NATO

Japan’s Military Revival and North Korea’s Escalation: NATO’s New Indo-Pacific Challenge

As North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia intensifies, security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific and Europe are increasingly intertwined. Nguyen Bao Han Tran analyzes how these developments have accelerated Japan’s defence transformation and prompted NATO to rethink its engagement with Indo-Pacific partners, highlighting the growing importance of transregional security coordination.
Indo-Pacific and NATO

Rupture and Fury: Can Canada Build a ‘Counter-Power’ Model of Cooperation in a World Reordered? 

What future is there for the ‘middle powers’ in a global order increasingly defined by unilateralism and revisionism? In this article, Joel Sawyer examines Canada’s role in building a new ‘counter-power’ network to define a new model of international cooperation
Indo-Pacific and NATO Society, Culture, and Security

For Shame Upon the World: Lessons from the Crushing of Hong Kong

In June of 2025, Hong Kong Youth Activist Joshua Wong was brought in front of West Kowloon court to face more charges under China’s 2019 ‘National Security Law,’ which caused the 2020 protests so brutally repressed by the Chinese Communist Party. Accused of conspiring with fellow activist, and exile, Nathan Law to promote sanctions against China, Wong, Read More…
Centre For Disinformation Studies

The Role of Government in Combating Gender-Based Disinformation 

In July, 3 employees of TBH Skincare, an Australian brand, took part in a TikTok trend where participants described their physical attributes and pieces of clothing in a singsongy fashion. After the post went viral, various internet users began attacking the trend participants, with some insisting that they were the cause of the “downfall of Read More…
Centre For Disinformation Studies

How Disinformation is Distorting Canada’s Climate Reality  

Extreme weather in Canada has become both an environmental challenge and an information crisis. As record-breaking wildfires, floods, and heatwaves sweep across the country, Canadians are confronted with accelerating climate impacts and a parallel surge in misinformation and greenwashing that obscures the causes of these events, distorts policy debates, and weakens democratic cohesion. In recent Read More…
Centre For Disinformation Studies

Why We Believe: The Psychology of Misinformation and the Fragility of Collective Consciousness

In an age saturated with information, misinformation has become one of the most destabilizing forces shaping politics, public health, and democratic trust. Governments typically respond with reactive tools such as fact-checking units, content moderation policies, or regulatory reforms aimed at platform transparency. However, these strategies tend to overlook a deeper issue, which is that misinformation Read More…
Centre For Disinformation Studies

How Disinformation Is Eroding the Skill of Democratic Conflict

Democracies survive on the ability of people to disagree without destroying the social fabric that binds them. However, in an era marked by rising mis- and disinformation, our collective capacity to navigate disagreement is deteriorating. While polarization is often viewed as a problem of belief, the deeper issue is that disinformation is changing the very Read More…