The School of Policy Studies and the Department of Political Studies Present:

A Research Talk with Leah West

"Privacy vs. Precaution: Responsible Use of AI-Driven Intelligence in Armed Conflict"

Monday, February 6, 2023 | 2:30-4:30 PM

Robert Sutherland Hall Room 202, 138 Union Street, Kingston

Abstract: The operational demands of modern armed conflict highlight a pressing need for AI-driven intelligence. Modern tools, like facial recognition technology, can help soldiers quickly identify enemy combatants and limit collateral damage. Yet, the widespread use of AI-enabled surveillance methods poses a serious threat to the privacy rights of non-combatants. This talk explores the tension between the quest for identity dominance promoted by international humanitarian law and the privacy rights of civilians living through an armed conflict. Dr. West will argue that despite this apparent conflict, the right to privacy and the principle of precaution apply concurrently in an armed conflict and offer a function-based approach to designing policies and procedures capable of adapting to meet the military’s evolving privacy obligations.

Biography: Leah West is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. She completed her SJD at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2020, where her research explored the application of criminal, constitutional and international law to state conduct in cyberspace. She is also the National Administrator of the Canadian National Rounds of the Phillip C Jessup International Law Moot, serves as Counsel with Friedman Mansour LLP, and was an inaugural McCain Institute National Security & Counterterrorism Fellow.

Leah is the co-author with Craig Forcese of National Security Law (Irwin Law, 2021, 2d Ed) and co-editor with Thomas Juneau and Amarnath Amarasingam of Stress Tested: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Canadian National Security (UCP, 2021). She is also the author of several peer-reviewed articles in Canadian and international journals on legal issues concerning national security and cyber operations, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, and Terrorism and Political Violence. She is a regular commentator on national security matters for Canadian and international media outlets and has testified before the House of Commons, the Senate, and the European Parliament.

Leah previously served as Counsel with the Department of Justice in the National Security Litigation and Advisory Group. She has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court in designated proceedings, and the Security Intelligence Review Committee. Before being called to the Ontario Bar in 2016, Leah clerked for the Honourable Justice Mosley of the Federal Court of Canada. A graduate of RMC, Leah served in the Canadian Armed Forces for ten years as an Armoured Officer; she deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.

Sunday, January 22, 2023 is the application deadline to apply for graduate programs (MA and PhD) with Queen's Department of Political Studies.  Visit our website for information about our graduate programs.

General information about our graduate programs: Graduate Studies

For more information about our MA programs: MA in Political Studies

For more information about our PhD programs: PhD Program

Admission requirements and how to apply: Applying

The Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity and the Department of Political Studies Present:

André Lecours - University of Ottawa

"Nationalism, Secessionism, and Autonomy"

Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 2:30-4:00 PM

Dunning Hall Room 11, 94 University Avenue, Kingston

Light refreshments will be served!

Abstract: The strength of secessionism in liberal-democracies varies in time and space. Inspired by historical institutionalism, Nationalism, Secessionism, and Autonomy argues that such variation is explained by the extent to which autonomy evolves in time. If autonomy adjusts to the changing identity, interests, and circumstances of an internal national community, nationalism is much less likely to be strongly secessionist than if autonomy is a final, unchangeable settlement. Developing a controlled comparison of, on the one hand, Catalonia and Scotland, where autonomy has been mostly static during key periods of time, and, on the other hand, Flanders and South Tyrol, where it has been dynamic, and also considering the Basque Country, Québec, and Puerto Rico as additional cases, this book puts forward an elegant theory of secessionism in liberal-democracies: dynamic autonomy staves off secessionism while static autonomy stimulates it.

Biography: André Lecours is a professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. His main research interests are Canadian politics, European politics, nationalism (with a focus on Quebec, Scotland, Flanders, Catalonia, and the Basque country) and federalism.  He is the author of Nationalism, Secessionism, and Autonomy (Oxford University Press, 2021), Basque Nationalism and the Spanish State (University of Nevada Press, 2007), and the co-author (with Daniel Béland) of Nationalism and Social Policy: The Politics of Territorial Solidarity (Oxford University Press, 2008).  He is the editor of New Institutionalism: Theory and Analysis (University of Toronto Press, 2005).