Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity

Welcome to the Centre

The Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity (CSDD) facilitates rigorous debate on contemporary complex challenges faced by Canada and the world through research and public engagement that uniquely focuses on the intersection of democracy and diversity.

The CSDD facilitates research and public engagement across six key themes, filling an important gap in Canada’s research institution profile. Our research falls into the following research clusters:

Democratic Institutions and Diversity;
Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, Minority Mobilization and Conflict Resolution;
Gender, Race, and Intersectionality;
Multiculturalism, Integration, Migration and Citizenship;
Land Rights, Indigeneity and Territorial Claims;
International Politics, Democracies and Democratization.

All of the Centre’s research and public engagement addresses these themes in some way, and we are exceptionally well-placed to lead these national and global conversations due to our robust collective record of scholarship, advocacy, and international diplomacy in this area. We reject a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model and are concerned with individual and group-differentiated human rights, including land rights; constitutional, institutional, and policy design in diverse and divided states; and fair representation in political decision-making that prevents the domination of minorities. Our case coverage is global and includes states undergoing significant transitions from civil war to peace, authoritarianism to democracy, and the reverse.