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Department of Political Science (RMC)
RSH 411
Richard is a 3rd-year political science major at the Royal Military College of Canada. Richard’s research interests include law, immigration, and public administration. He is responsible for student engagement, social media, and participating in the mentorship program with our Visiting Defence Fellows at the CIDP.
RMC-CIDP Intern 2023-24
Military and Strategic Studies (RMC)
RSH 411
Naval Cadet Liam Brown is a third year undergraduate student in Military and Strategic Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada. Their areas of academic interest include modern political philosophy, civil-military relations, and arctic affairs. At the CIDP Liam works as a research assistant to a Visiting Defence Fellow, and hopes to deepen their academic knowledge before continuing in their career as a Naval Warfare Officer.
Communications & Events Intern
Dept. of Political Studies
RSH 411
Cordelia, currently in her third year at Queen’s, is pursuing a degree in Political Studies while minoring in Gender Studies. Her research interests include gender politics, patterns in voter behaviour, and American electoral systems. This summer, Cordelia gained valuable experience working in Japan with ANA, the country’s leading airline, in the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Political Digest, an undergraduate academic journal that explores the integration of intersectionality in politics, allowing students to publish original research, opinion pieces, and critical analyses. Cordelia is also excited to continue her editorial work with MUSE Magazine and serve as the I-EDIAA Director for the Queen’s University Outdoors Club this year.
Undergraduate Researcher | Social Media intern
Jonathan is in his third year of Politics, Philosophy and Economics with a Specialization in Politics. In his studies, he is primarily interested in the influence of political philosophies in shaping societies, and the resulting impacts on international relations. His favourite piece of work in political theory is Carole Pateman’s “The Sexual Contract”. He is the current Co-Director of the Perspectives on Gender, Equity and Politics Journal, and is looking forward to managing their annual issue.
The Centre for International and Defence Policy, the Russian and East European Studies Network, and the Department of Political Studies' Corry Colloquium Speaker Series Present:
Marlene Laruelle - The George Washington University
Light refreshments served
Biography: Marlene Laruelle, Ph.D., is Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Sciences at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, and director of the Illiberalism Studies Program. She is the former director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) and of the Central Asia Program. Dr. Laruelle received her Ph.D. in history at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO) and her post-doctoral degree in political science at Sciences-Po in Paris. She has widely published on Russia’s ideologies and nationalism, on Russia’s foreign policy and soft power strategies.
Dangerous Conspiracies: Why Some Bad Ideas Produce Violence
Conspiracy theories have long been woven into the fabric of society, but not all remain benign chatter in the dark corners of the internet. This talk delves into the dynamics of why certain conspiracy theories escalate into violent ideologies, focusing on findings from a comprehensive survey of the UK population. The presentation will also explore the history of movements like QAnon, their political influence, look at the current state of conspiracy theories like the Great Replacement and Antisemitic ideas. Amarasingam will illuminate the premise that while ideas in isolation seldom pose a threat, an amalgam of factors within an ecosystem of conspiratorial thought can steer individuals towards endorsing, or even advocating, violent action.
*note: Q&A will not be available for the online audience, if you would like to ask a question please join us in-person.
Bio:
Amarnath Amarasingam is an Assistant Professor in the School of Religion, and is cross-appointed to the Department of Political Studies, at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. His research interests are in terrorism, radicalization and extremism, conspiracy theories, online communities, diaspora politics, post-war reconstruction, and the sociology of religion. He is the author of Pain, Pride, and Politics: Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada (2015), and the co-editor of Stress Tested: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Canadian National Security (2021) and Sri Lanka: The Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of War (2016). He has also published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, has presented papers at over 100 national and international conferences, and has written for The New York Times, The Monkey Case, The Washington Post, CNN, Politico, The Atlantic, and Foreign Affairs. He has been interviewed on CNN, PBS Newshour, CBC, BBC, and a variety of other media outlets.
Dr. Amarasingam is an experienced field researcher, having conducted hundreds of interviews for his PhD dissertation on social movement activism, organizational dynamics, and youth identity in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, as well as over 50 interviews with former fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) throughout the former war zones of Sri Lanka in 2013 and 2014. He has also conducted field research in Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Somalia, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. He co-directed a study on foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, based at the University of Waterloo, for six years during which he conducted numerous social media and in-person interviews with current and former foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, as well as parents and close friends of those who travelled to fight. He has also conducted several interviews with former extremists on the far-right and conspiratorial movements.
Assistant Professor (Adjunct)
Dept. of Political Studies
Stauffer 143
Ian Garner’s research focuses on Russian culture and propaganda of war. He is particularly interested in combining methodologies from cultural studies, history, and political science to understand the changing impacts of communications and propaganda forms on subjects at war.
Garner completed his PhD in the Slavic Department at the University of Toronto after graduating from the University of Bristol (UK) and St. Petersburg Conservatory (Russia). His first book, Stalingrad Lives: Stories of Combat & Survival (McGill-Queen’s University Press), explored the nascence and afterlife of the myth of Stalingrad as a propaganda tool both historically and under the current Russian regime. His most recent work, Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth, charted experiences of burgeoning neo-fascist youth militarism since the year 2000, especially in light of the war in Ukraine. In his next project, tentatively titled I Killed For the Motherland, Garner seeks to chart a history of the ways in which propaganda and propagandists have (de)motivated Othered soldiers who have fought for the Russian state and to conceptualize how shifting digital landscapes may alter soldiering in the coming years.
Garner has written for media outlets including the Guardian, The Times, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post, and makes regular appearances on global TV and radio networks including the BBC, CBC, Al Jazeera, and TVP World. He has worked with think tanks and policymakers in the UK, Canada, USA, Ukraine, and across Eastern Europe, and currently teaches in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University.
Current interest:
Social Media:
CAF Visiting Defence Fellow 2023-24
Canadian Armed Forces
Colonel Michael (Mike) Babin is originally from Val d'Or, Québec. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a pilot in 1997. He completed his first operational tour as a tactical helicopter pilot with 430e Escadron tactique d'hélicoptères (ETAH) in Valcartier, Québec. During his first tour, he deployed to Bosnia and Haiti.
In 2005, he was posted to 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School (3 CFFTS) in Portage-La-Prairie, Manitoba as a flight instructor. In 2008, he was promoted to Major and posted to the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre (CMTC) in Wainwright, Alberta as the G5 Aviation.
In 2009, he was posted back to 430 ETAH where he deployed to Afghanistan as the Operations Officer of the Canadian Aviation Battalion, Roto 10. In 2011, he attended the Joint Command and Staff Program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, Ontario.
In 2012, he was posted to 1 Wing headquarters in Kingston, Ontario as the A7, responsible for Standards, Training, Doctrine and Acquisitions. In July 2014 as an important crisis was taking place in Eastern Europe, he was posted to NATO Allied Air Command Headquarters in Ramstein, Germany as an Air Operations Planning Group Leader within the Strategy Division.
In July 2017, he took command of 430 Squadron in Valcartier, Québec. He was deployed to Mali on Operation PRÉSENCE as the Commanding Officer of Task Force Mali Aviation Battalion Roto 1. Following his Squadron command, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and posted to Ottawa, Ontario as the J5 and then Acting Director General Plans of the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC). In 2021, he is posted back to Kingston, ON as the Commander of 1 Wing. In 2023, following his Wing Command, he is selected to be the CAF Visiting Defence Fellow at Queen’s University in Kingston.
Col Babin is a graduate from the Royal Military College of Canada as well as the Canadian Forces College. He is married and they have two daughters.
U.S. Army Visiting Defence Fellow 2023-24
COL TYLER R. DONNELL is the United States Army Visiting Defense Fellow to the Centre for International and Defence Policy, Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario. Tyler has 21 years of service with the United States Armed Forces as a Field Artillery Officer. Tyler has operational deployments to Baghdad and Kirkuk, Iraq focusing on security and stability operations. He has also served in the Indo-Pacific region with Special Operations Command – Korea and Europe with the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, where he focused on multinational interoperability and operations with Allies and Partners. Tyler has served in various command and staff positions.
He is a United States Army Command and General Staff College graduate. Tyler received a Master’s Degree in Applied Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, before his assignment as an Instructor at the United States Military Academy. He has been awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and Meritorious Service Medal.
· NATO military operations and training
· NATO interoperability and integration of advancing technology
· Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerdonnell/
Some of our Keynote speakers and many of our panelists have been revealed, including: Senator Rebecca Patterson as our Opening Keynote, General Wayne Eyre as our Closing Keynote.
Standing at an inflection point in history, over the past few years it has become painfully evident that a new era is upon us. From the challenges to the current rules based international system to its potential impacts on partnerships, globalization, and the environment; from new contests for influence in regions stretching from the Arctic to Europe and all across Asia; from the [un]changing character of warfare of major combat operations in Europe to multi-domain operations across the Indo-Pacific. Each of these focus and friction points offer opportunities for the development of new strategy, policy, and security and defence. KCIS 2023’s theme is ‘the [un]Changing Character of War’.
The aim of this conference is to identify and analyze the impacts of recent major shifts in the international security environment on the changing character of war, with a particular emphasis on the current flashpoints observed in the Indo Pacific, Central Europe, as well as the impact upon human security. Though broad in its interest, this conference seeks to bring together scholars and practitioners into the spotlight of those issues that resonate across all domains related to security and defence in this new era.
visit thekcis.org for the most up to date information.
