Irvin Studin (BBA Spec. Hons. '99), a PhD candidate in constitutional law at York's Osgoode Hall Law School and editor-in-chief and publisher of Global Brief magazine, will discuss the proposal of a new intellectual construct called the strategic constitution at the next talk in the Osgoode-York Seminar Series in Policy Research.
Studin's talk, “Constitution and Strategy: Understanding Canadian Power in the World”, will take place Monday, Feb. 22, from 12:30 to 2pm at 901 York Research Tower, Keele campus. The talk is sponsored by the York Centre for Public Policy & Law (YCPPL). Global Brief is Canada’s first international affairs magazine and is run out of the Glendon School of Public & International Affairs (see YFile, Nov. 20, 2009).
Right: Irvin Studin
The strategic constitution consists of the various sections of a constitution that have strategic consequence or value. For instance, Canada’s strategic constitution includes the various sections of the Canadian Constitution relating to what are called "factors of (strategic) power", such as diplomacy, the military, executive potency, natural resources, the economy, and national population.
Using this framework, strategic power is manifested primarily by the diplomatic and military instruments of the federal state, the strength of which are informed by the various factors of power.
The paper will conclude with the assertion that even though there is a general absence or under-treatment of strategy and foreign affairs in Canada’s original constitutional structures, its jurisprudence and even its constitutional scholarship, Canada’s Constitution has significant strategic potential.
Studin, a Trudeau Scholar and former Rhodes Scholar, has worked at the Privy Council Office in Ottawa, as well as the Australian Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet in Canberra. He co-authored Canada’s 2004 national security policy and was the principal author of Australia’s 2006 national counter-terrorism policy. In addition, he is the editor of What is a Canadian? Forty-Three Thought-Provoking Responses (Douglas Gibson Books, 2006).
Everyone is welcome to attend the talk. A light lunch will be served.
Those wishing to attend should confirm their attendance by contacting Jennifer Dalton, YCPPL research fellow and seminar series coordinator, at jedalton@yorku.ca or ext. 33233.