Description

Sometimes called “Europe’s last dictatorship,” Belarus has seen massive and unprecedented street protests in the aftermath of its presidential election on August 9. Decrying fraud and harassment, protesters have called for fundamental change to Belarus’s political system, which has undergone little reform since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In this discussion, Olga Onuch (University of Manchester), Maryia Rohava (University of Oslo) and Lucan Way (University of Toronto) discuss Belarus’s protests and its prospects for change.

Moderator: Seva Gunitsky (University of Toronto)

Description

On October 3, 1990 the two Germanys were united again after having been divided for 28 years by barbed wires, landmines, fences and the Berlin Wall.
As we reflect on 30 years of German unity, we are reminded of an era in which a peaceful revolution tore down the Berlin Wall and swept away the repressive East German regime. It was a time that sparked astonishingly rapid progress, as the member states of NATO and the Warsaw Pact engaged in negotiations on peace and security, disarmament, confidence building, and détente.
German unity was made possible through the support of our allies; indeed, it could not have been achieved without those allies’ commitment to multilateralism and cooperation within a rules-based order. An often overlooked aspect of this transformation is the crucial role that Canada played in shoring up international support for a reunited Germany.

Join us for an online event on Friday, 2 October, featuring former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in conversation with Peter Mansbridge and a panel discussion with Senator Ratna Omidvar and political scientist Alexander Reisenbichler. Our distinguished speakers will look back on a time full of hope and promise – and look forward to how Canada and Germany jointly can make a difference in today’s more polarized world.

Participants
• The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, PC CC QOC, former Prime Minister of Canada
• Peter Mansbridge, OC, former Chief Correspondent, CBC News (Moderator)
• The Honourable Ratna Omidvar, CM Oont, Independent Senator for Ontario
• Alexander Reisenbichler, assistant professor of political science and research coordinator of the Joint Initiative in German and European Studies (JIGES) at the Munk School, University of Toronto
With remarks by
• Michael Sabia, Director, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
• Sabine Sparwasser, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Canada

Peter Mansbridge is one of Canada’s most respected and recognizable figures. For five decades, including 30 years as anchor of CBC’s The National, Peter guided Canadians through the political, economic, and cultural events that have shaped the country.
Known for his trademark voice and unflappable on-screen presence, Peter has received over a dozen national awards for broadcast excellence, including a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Canadian Screen and Television, where his acceptance speech gave a passionate defence of good journalism and the principle it stands for: the truth.
Away from the news desk, he has been recognized by leading universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and, of course, Canada. He has received 13 honorary doctorates, has been a Fellow at Yale, has lectured at Oxford, and has just finished two terms as Chancellor of Mount Allison University. He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Brian Mulroney became Canada’s eighteenth Prime Minister in 1984, after leading the Progressive Conservative party to the largest victory in Canadian history. Re-elected four years later, he became the first Canadian Prime Minister in 35 years to win successive majority governments.
His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of bold new initiatives such as the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Canada-US Acid Rain Treaty and the Canada-US Arctic Cooperation Agreement, a wave of privatizations, a low inflation policy, historic tax reform, extensive deregulation, and expenditure reduction policies that continue to be the basis of Canada’s impressive economic performance today.
Prime Minister Mulroney served as Co-Chairman of the United Nations World Summit for Children, and his government played leading roles in the campaign against apartheid in South Africa, the creation of Le Sommet de la Francophonie, the Reunification of Germany, and the first Gulf War.
He has been awarded the honor of Companion of the Order of Canada and has received the highest recognition from numerous governments for his leadership in vital matters affecting those nations. He has also been presented with honorary degrees and awards from universities and governments at home and abroad.
Upon resigning, Mr. Mulroney rejoined the Montreal law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright as Senior Partner.

Ratna Omidvar is an internationally recognized voice on migration, diversity and inclusion. In April 2016, Ms. Omidvar was appointed to the Senate of Canada as an independent Senator representing Ontario. As a member of the Senate’s Independent Senators Group, she holds a leadership position as Liaison.
Senator Omidvar is a Councillor on the World Refugee Council, a Director at the Samara Centre for Democracy, and Chair Emerita for the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.
Senator Omidvar was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2005 and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2011, with both honours recognizing her advocacy work on behalf of immigrants and devotion to reducing inequality in Canada. In 2014, Senator Omidvar received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of German-Canadian relations.

Alexander Reisenbichler is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and research coordinator of the Joint Initiative in German and European Studies (JIGES) at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. He will be a John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University in 2021–22. His work explores the politics of housing, financial, and labour markets in advanced economies, with regional specializations in Western Europe and the United States. His current research investigates the political economy of housing capitalism in the United States and Germany from a comparative, historical perspective. His work has appeared in Politics & Society, the Review of International Political Economy, West European Politics, and Foreign Affairs. Prof. Reisenbichler received his doctorate from The George Washington University and undergraduate degree from the University of Leipzig.

Michael Sabia is the Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. From March 2009 to January 2020, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), where he oversaw the organization’s strategic direction and global growth.
Before joining CDPQ, Mr. Sabia held numerous senior positions with BCE, including President and Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice-President, and Chief Operating Officer as well as Chief Executive Officer of Bell Canada International. From 1993 to 1999, he occupied various roles with Canadian National Railway, including Chief Financial Officer. He spent the preceding decade working as a senior official in the Government of Canada, as the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet and in senior positions in the Department of Finance.
Mr. Sabia earned a bachelor of arts in economics and politics from the University of Toronto and holds graduate degrees in economics and politics from Yale University.
In April 2020, Mr. Sabia was appointed as Chair of the Board of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. He serves as a member of the Canadian government’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. He is a trustee of the Foreign Policy Association of New York and a member of the Canada-Mexico Leadership Group and the Asia Business Leaders Advisory Council.
Mr. Sabia was appointed to the board of the Mastercard Foundation in June 2020. He is committed to community involvement and recently co-chaired the capital campaigns of Université de Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, and HEC Montréal. Mr. Sabia is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Sabine Sparwasser studied political science with a focus on foreign relations at the Institut d’études politiques in Paris following her studies of German, French, and English literature and linguistics at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Before embarking on her diplomatic career, she worked as a freelance journalist for German television and was Research Assistant on European integration to Prof. Joseph Rovan in Paris.
Sabine Sparwasser has been posted to the German EC Representation in Brussels as well as the German Embassies in London and San José. She also served as Consul General in Toronto. At the German Federal Foreign Office headquarters, she held various positions in the press, public relations, and political sections before assuming the role of Deputy Spokesperson. She later served as Director of the Middle East and Maghreb Division and as Head of the Foreign Service Academy. Before coming to Canada, she was Assistant Deputy Minister for Africa, Asia, Latin America, Near and Middle East as well as Germany’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Sabine Sparwasser has been Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Canada since 2017. She is married to Gary Soroka, a former Canadian diplomat, and has two children.

Description

Just over two months ago, on August 9, Belarus’s Aliaksandr Lukashenka declared victory in presidential elections that were widely decried as unfree and unfair. Since then, protestors have taken to the streets and the regime has begun a widespread crackdown. In the meantime, presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, fearing for her safety, has fled to Lithuania. Massive pro-democracy mobilization continues across Belarus against one of Europe’s last dictatorships.

This panel discussion will be recorded and made available following the event.

Description

The rise of populism is a consequence of recent globally spreading economic and political crises and subsequent growing public distrust of technocracy and expert knowledge. Populist politics draws on public anger vis-a-vis growing economic insecurity and the general failure of anti-majoritarian institutions and their expertise to address issues of social justice and equality. However, populists mainly exploit the framework of constitutional democracy without dissolving and replacing it by a different political regime. Their politics thus remains subject of political contestations and opposition challenges in free elections. Nevertheless, some populists seized the opportunity to challenge this constitutional order and transformed into full-scale autocrats by reconstituting their power, such as the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who staged a coup during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis by eliminating parliament and granting himself power to indefinitely govern by decrees. Because Hungary is a member state of the EU, its legal and political transformation into constitutional autocracy represents a big constitutional question for the Union: “Can a dictatorial regime be a Member State of the EU?” This question needs to be addressed because of the rise of populism in other member states of the EU including countries of Central Europe. Ironically, some of them would not be able to pass the conditionality test if they applied for EU membership today.

Jiří Přibáň is professor of law and Director of the Centre of Law and Society at Cardiff University. He graduated from Charles University in Prague (1989) where he was appointed professor of legal theory, philosophy and sociology in 2002. In 2006, he was appointed professor of law at Cardiff University. He was also visiting professor or scholar at European University Institute in Florence, New York University, UC Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Pretoria, The Flemish Academy in Brussels and University of New South Wales, Sydney. Jiří Přibáň has published extensively in the areas of social theory and sociology of law, legal philosophy, constitutional and European comparative law, and theory of human rights. He is an editor of the Journal of Law and Society and a regular contributor to the Czech and international media.

Barbara J. Falk is Professor, Department of Defence Studies at the Canadian Forces College/Royal Military College of Canada, and author of The Dilemmas of Dissidence: Citizen Intellectuals and Philosopher Kings (2003) and Political Trials: Causes and Categories (2008). Her primary research interest is political trials, particularly in the persecution and prosecution of domestic dissent. She is currently writing a book on comparative political trials across the East-West divide during the early Cold War, examining the Rajk, Slánský, Dennis and Rosenberg trials. Prior to her academic career, she worked in the both the private and public sectors in human resources, labour relations and women’s issues. For more information, see: http://www.cfc.forces.gc.ca/136/277-eng.html.

Description

Professor Chapman’s talk examines the Kremlin’s use of nominally-democratic communication strategies to reinforce Russia’s non-democratic regime. Using a detailed case study of the popular “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” broadcast, she finds that these strategies mitigate information problems and increase regime support—though not without consequences.

Hannah Chapman is the Karen and Adeed Dawisha Assistant Professor of Political Science at Miami University. Her research examines information manipulation and public opinion in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Description

Recent events in Belarus are a reflection of deep changes transforming the East European space – changes that caught many by surprise, but will undoubtedly have significant regional and global implications and are yet to be understood.

A panel of Belarusian and Canadian experts will explore unfiltered perspectives on what’s happening in the country, what potential scenarios may transpire and what that means for Belarus, Canada and the world in a virtual roundtable.

Dr. Zina J. Gimpelevich is a Professor Emerita at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Born in Minsk, Biełaruś, she came to Canada in 1979. Gimpelevich earned her Ph.D. in Slavic Studies from the University of Ottawa (1987). She worked for the Department of External Affairs and the University of Ottawa, teaching Russian language and culture (1980-1990). Her research interests are Biełarusian and Russian languages, literature, and culture. She has published seven books (the last received award from CAS and Taylor & Francis, 2019), thirteen book chapters, and over eighty articles. Gimpelevich co-authored one textbook and has given over eighty presentations at professional conferences. Zina Gimpelevich has been one of the three founding members of the Canadian Relief Fund for the Children of Chernobyl in Biełaruś (together with its first President, Mme Joanna Survilla [President of the Biełarusian Government in Exile] and Mrs. Paulina Smith-Paškievič). She was the first Vice-president of this national organization. Gimpelevich served as the President of the Canadian Institute of Arts and Sciences (BINiM, Canada 2002-2017) and its Vice-President (2017-2020). ZG served as the President and the Past – President of the Canadian Association of Slavists (CAS, 2008-2014) and was its Honorary President (2017-18). She is also the Honorary life- time member of the Biełarusian Writers’ Union (2017-) and other organizations. Zina Gimpelevich is active in the North American Biełarusian community. One of her dreams is to see her native country follow the example of her adoptive country, Canada, and to become democratic, prosperous, and free.

Valentina Holubeva is a regular active participant in Belarusian protests with a first-hand perspective on what’s happening in the country. She is a former Minsk State Linguistic University instructor and a corporate trainer also serving as Board Member of the Belarusian National Association of Teachers of English and Admin of Teaching English in Belarus Facebook Group. Valentina is a strong Advocate of learner centered learning, technology-driven methods of teaching English and cross-cultural studies. These new approaches in cross-cultural communication and pedagogy shape her vision of democracy-building in Belarus, equality and international cooperation. Having taught pre-service and in-service teachers at Minsk State Linguistic University for twenty years, now Valentina runs international professional development projects for teachers of Belarus in cooperation with Gallery Teaches and the Institute of IT and Business Administration. She has presented at a number of international conferences for teachers, worked as interpreter for international organizations, such as the World Bank, UNESCO, Council of Europe, ICOM and others, which helped her develop a global perspective on the developments in various fields.

Andrei Kazakevich is the Director of the Institute of Political Studies “Palitychnaya sphera” (Political Sphere) in Minsk. His research interests include Belarus’s foreign policy, the development of political institutions and the political history of Belarus and Eastern Europe.
Andrei graduated from the Department of Political Science of the Law Faculty of the Belarusian State University and received a PhD in Political Science in Lithuania (his thesis dealt with the judicial power in the Republic of Belarus). He is Co-founder and Editor-in-Сhief of the “Palitychnaya sphera” and Belarusian Political Science Review journals, Senior Research Fellow at Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Congress of Belarusian Studies.

Igor Leshchenya was the first senior diplomat to declare solidarity with protesters in Belarus. Previously the ambassador of Belarus to Slovakia, he was relieved of the post of Ambassador in August 2020.Mr. Leshchenya joined the diplomatic service in 1991 as an Attaché of the Embassy of the USSR. As soon as the Republic of Belarus became independent, Mr. Leshchenya continued his diplomatic career as a Head of Asia and Africa Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus. In 2002, he negotiated with the OSCE on the presence of this organization in Belarus and on December 30, 2002 (on behalf of the government of Belarus) he signed a Memorandum on the OSCE office in Minsk.From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Leshchenya was working as an Assistant to the President of the Republic of Belarus (issues of foreign policy and foreign economic relations). During his very successful diplomatic career, Mr. Leshchenya served his country as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus in the Arab Republic of Egypt; the State of Israel; and the Slovak Republic. He also initiated the popular movement “I am a Citizen”.