Editors’ Introduction
| Author | Susan Colbourn,Brian Bow |
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00207020211018011 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
2021, Vol. 76(2) 181 –182
Editors’ Introduction
This issue of International Journal begins with six scholarly essays. In the first,
Wilfrid Greaves offers a sweeping overview of the various security implications of
climate change for Canada, considering everything from human security to eco-
nomic threats. The second, by Elinor Sloan, discusses the role of communications
satellites in Canadian security policy. Starting in the 1960s, Sloan looks at how
Canadian policies have shifted over time and the growing importance of low earth
orbit satellite communications systems. Next is an article by Marc Kieley on the
implications of recent breakthroughs in reconnaissance–strike technologies and the
Canadian government’s response. Kieley focuses, in particular, on current
Canadian plans to procure a new ground-based air defence system, making the
case that still more is needed to meet the whole range of threats on the horizon.
The fourth of these essays, by Marlen Heide and Jean-Patrick Villeneuve, exam-
ines the concept of national security secrecy and the various rationales underlying
that secrecy—a theme that appears again later in the issue, in Timothy Andrews
Sayle’s contribution. Here, Heide and Villeneuve argue that secrecy and transpar-
ency are not in opposition to one another, but rather that they exist in parallel as
tools of governance. Then, Mohammed Nuruzzaman considers how neorealist
theories on alliance formation can shed light on the Arab Spring and the Syrian
Civil War, exploring the relationship between rival alliances. Finally, in the sixth of
this issue’s scholarly essays, Abdur Rehman Shah discusses the Financial Action
Task Force’s decision to place Pakistan on the so-called grey list in 2018, arguing
that this decision cannot be understood without understanding the role of eco-
nomic coercion.
This issue features two Lessons of History pieces. The first of these, by Timothy
Andrews Sayle, sketches Canadian policy toward defectors during the Cold War.
Using recently declassified material, Sayle offers a glimpse into what we now know
about defectors in Cold War Canada, but also at what still remains shrouded in
archival secrecy, even decades after the Cold War’s end. The second, by Leigh
Sarty, revisits Francis Fukuyama’s well-known—and much-debated—End of
History? thesis with an eye to contemporary relations with Russia and China.
Then, in this issue’s Policy Brief, Paul Meyer considers the diplomatic prospects
to prevent the weaponization of outer space.
International Journal
!The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00207020211018011
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