For immediate distribution – Wednesday, April 6, 2005

Montreal – The Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP.org) is today launching a book edited by IRPP President Hugh Segal entitled Geopolitical Integrity.

The collection, which addresses Canada’s global and hemispheric priorities and its foreign and defence policy options and challenges, will be launched at 4:30 p.m. today at the Sheraton Ottawa Hotel (150 Albert Street, O’Connor Room, on the main floor).

According to Hugh Segal, the book’s title, Geopolitical Integrity, invokes two meanings, cohesiveness and ethical responsibility.

“Canadian foreign, defence, humanitarian and trade policies should come together in a coherent manner,” writes Segal in the introduction. And he adds, “Canadian rhetoric at home ought to be consistent with our actions abroad, and both our words and our actions should express our values as a country.”

The collection brings together contributions by notable foreign and defence policy experts such as

• Sean Maloney, Department of War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada
• Ann Fitz-Gerald, director of the Centre for Managing Security in Transitional Societies at Cranfield University in the UK, and retired Air Force Brigadier General W.D. Macnamara, a fellow at the Queen’s Centre for International Relations
• Douglas Bland, chair of the Defence Management Studies Program at Queen’s University
• Danford Middlemiss and Denis Stairs, both political scientists with the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University
• Joel J. Sokolsky, dean of arts and professor of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada

Some of the papers have been published previously as part of the IRPP’s National Security and Military Interoperability series, and others were delivered at IRPP seminars and symposia on defence and foreign policy. The collection also includes the following new studies:

• “Between a Rock and a Soft Place: The Geopolitics of Canada-US Relations,” by Joel J.
• Sokolsky, which reflects on the implications for Canada of new US trends in both security and foreign policy. The author argues that Canada’s budget, independence and sovereignty are not at risk as a result of the new American policy. Canada can be selective in its deployments while vigorously defending North American territory. But it must better integrate security and defence at home and abroad to achieve these ends.
• “Geopolitical Integrity,” by Hugh Segal, which explores how Canada can successfully unite commitment with action by combining a clear statement of interests with the means and will to back them up. This requires increasing the capacity to deploy, the quality and the size of the Canadian Forces, as well as better integrating government agencies and allied operations.

For information regarding the book launch or to request an interview with the editor or one of the contributors, please contact the IRPP.

Geopolitical Integrity is now available for purchase on the Institute’s Web site, at www.irpp.org, and will also be available for purchase at today’s event.

Also being launched are Choice of Force: Special Operations for Canada, edited by David Last and Bernd Horn, and Force of Choice: Perspectives on Special Operations, edited by Bernd Horn, J. Paul de B. Taillon and David Last. The book launch will follow a conference, “The New Defence Agenda: Transforming National Defence Administration,” organized by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP.org); the Chair of Defence Management Studies at Queen’s University; the Canadian Defence Industries Association (CDIA); and the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) .

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Founded in 1972, the Institute for Research in Public Policy (IRPP.org) is an independent, national, nonprofit organization based in Montreal.