The Boston Marathon bombing highlighted two issues long debated by legislators and security professionals in the wake of 9/11 and the now infamous “Global War on Terror” initiated by President George W. Bush…
Barbara J. Falk
Associate Professor, Canadian Forces College.
Dr. Falk holds a BA in political science from the University of Victoria, an MA and PhD from York University, and an MSL (master of studies in law) from the University of Toronto. She joined the academic staff of the Canadian Forces College (CFC) as an associate professor in September 2006, after teaching for over 10 years in a number of post-secondary contexts. Most recently, she is a Fellow at the Munk Centre's Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies for International Studies at the University of Toronto, where she teaches in the MA International Relations Program.
Before returning to academic life, she worked for 10 years in progressively responsible management positions in women’s issues, human resources, and labour relations, in both the public and private sectors. She was the director of human resources at Sony Music Canada and the director of compensation and labour relations policy for the government of Ontario.
Her areas of research and teaching specialization include political philosophy, theories and practices of dissent, Cold War history, the politicization of justice, theories of war and terrorism, post-9/11 debates on international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict, comparative security and terrorism law, contemporary public policy in Canada, the United States, and Central and Eastern Europe, paradigms of transitional justice, and debates regarding globalization and global governance.
In 2002, she published the first thorough and comparative account of dissident theory and activism under communism, entitled The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe: Citizen Intellectuals and Philosopher-Kings. In 2004 she was awarded a Canada Council grant for the research and writing of her second book, which will compare postwar political trials across the east-west divide as well as examine the post-9/11 world as a 21st century cultural and political Cold War.
In 2008, she published a monograph entitled “Making Sense of Political Trials: Causes and Categories” in the Controversies in Global Politics and Societies series of the Munk Centre for International Studies.
Before returning to academic life, she worked for 10 years in progressively responsible management positions in women’s issues, human resources, and labour relations, in both the public and private sectors. She was the director of human resources at Sony Music Canada and the director of compensation and labour relations policy for the government of Ontario.
Her areas of research and teaching specialization include political philosophy, theories and practices of dissent, Cold War history, the politicization of justice, theories of war and terrorism, post-9/11 debates on international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict, comparative security and terrorism law, contemporary public policy in Canada, the United States, and Central and Eastern Europe, paradigms of transitional justice, and debates regarding globalization and global governance.
In 2002, she published the first thorough and comparative account of dissident theory and activism under communism, entitled The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe: Citizen Intellectuals and Philosopher-Kings. In 2004 she was awarded a Canada Council grant for the research and writing of her second book, which will compare postwar political trials across the east-west divide as well as examine the post-9/11 world as a 21st century cultural and political Cold War.
In 2008, she published a monograph entitled “Making Sense of Political Trials: Causes and Categories” in the Controversies in Global Politics and Societies series of the Munk Centre for International Studies.
May Day: What’s Left of the Left
This past week a fortuitous stopover landed me in London on May 1st, historically “May Day,” the day commemorating international working class solidarity since Chicago’s Haymarket Massacre in 1886…
In Defence of a Fine Arts Education
Education should be about critical thinking, challenging the status quo, and developing individual talents and abilities, not merely the rote acquisition of knowledge.
Four More Years
What President Obama’s re-election tells us about the current state of American politics.
Washington: A Silent Capital
With only one week to go before the U.S. presidential election, the nation’s capital is eerily void of campaign noise – and not just because of superstorm Sandy.
The Illusion of Power
The U.S. presidential debates certainly stirred things up. What they didn’t do is present us with an accurate picture of the presidential role, or of the United States’ position in the world.
Church, State, and the Pussy Riot Trial
The prosecution may have won a conviction, but has Putin lost the political high ground?
In Accordance With Canadian Law
Enough of the government’s delays and obfuscations: It’s time to bring Omar Khadr back to Canada.
Vaclav Havel’s Message Resonates Still
Writings by the late Czech political icon continue to pinpoint the challenges faced by revolutionaries from Russia to China to Syria.
How the Left is Changing the Nation
Citizen empowerment and the direct democracy being practiced suggest Occupy Wall Street can reinvigorate the left.
