Media
Veronica Kitchen - Post-9/11 security and counter-terrorism
Veronica Kitchen is an associate professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts, University of Waterloo, and at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Her research evaluates and analyzes the counter-terrorism institutions that have proliferated post-9/11, asking whether or not society has been well-served by the policies and practices of these institutions. Dr. Kitchen explores political, ethical and societal implications of heightened security, with the goal to provide evidence for more informed decisions about security policy.
RCMI Conference on Threat and Preparedness April 27 2016: Panel Three
The Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto held a one-day conference on threats and preparedness in Canada on April 27, 2016. Panel Three on the theme "Do we Learn from the Day After?", was moderated by Stewart Bell of The National Post, and featured panelists Calvin Barry (former Crown Prosecutor), Colin Freeze of the Globe and Mail, and Prof. Veronica Kitchen of University of Waterloo.
Interview Dr. Veronica Kitchen on Using Simulations in the Classroom
Dr. Veronica Kitchen, from the Department of Political Science, is interviewed by Mark Morton about her use of simulations in her courses.
Security in Public Spaces
CBC News, December 20, 2016Television
URL: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/837599299907
Security expert Veronica Kitchen says Canada isn't immune to violent attacks but the risk is low. As well, it's important to remember our own personal responsibility to remain safe when we go to large public spaces because you don't know what kind of threat is looming.
Hunt Continues for Berlin Suspect
CTV News Channel, December 21, 2016Television
University of Waterloo's Veronica Kitchen discusses the effort to track down the perpetrator of the attacks on the Christmas Market in Berlin.
Six-Year-Old Ontario Boy Named 'High Profile' Flight Risk
Vice.com, January 4, 2016Online
URL: http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/six-year-old-ontario-boy-named-high-profile-flight-risk
According to Veronica Kitchen, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and counterrorism expert, the real question that needs to be asked is whether Ahmed was put on a Canadian or American no fly list. She notes that the two are different in how difficult it is to get removed from an American no fly list as a non-citizen.
Justin Trudeau makes first visit to Washington
TRT World, February 13, 2017Online
URL: http://www.trtworld.com/magazine/justin-trudeau-makes-first-visit-to-washington-296689
According to Veronica Kitchen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, security issues will also figure prominently during Trump and Trudeau’s meeting. “Canada does a lot of information sharing with the United States, so all of these things leave Canada vulnerable to American policy,” Kitchen said. “Obviously cooperation is easier to manage in Canada when American policy and Canadian policy are basically going in the same direction,” she said. But Canada must also be careful about “holding too much moral high ground,” Kitchen added, and about how it criticises its largest trading partner. “You don’t want anything to damage that trade relationship because it’s so encompassing.”
Veterans and military masculinity in popular romance fiction
Published by Critical Military Studies
Although popular culture has become an important area of study in international relations, few scholars so far have turned their attention to popular romance fiction, despite its popularity among readers. Through an analysis of contemporary category romances featuring military heroes, and combining the scholarship on popular romance fiction with that of security studies, I open a new area of study for scholars of security. I argue that the structure of the romance genre – which requires the hero and heroine to fall and love and be happy at the end of the novel – reinforces particular kinds of politics. First, the focus on intimate relationships closes off broader critiques of global politics. Second, the focus on the home front reinforces the idea that there is no possible distinction between a peaceful home front to be protected and an international space of war. Third, heroes dealing with grief, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other problems of a return to civilian life after deployment are portrayed as turning chaos into quest, again through a courtship narrative. Because of the familiar settings and stories that ‘feel true’, popular romance fiction is a site for the reproduction of specific kinds of military masculinity and military families. While these fictional accounts can have the beneficial effect of providing more nuanced portrayals of possible intimate lives of soldiers, they also close off critiques of politics and help to order a resilient, war-ready society and reinforce these images among readers who may not otherwise seek out non-fictional stories about the military.
URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23337486.2016.1235761
The Ethics of Mega-Event Security When the World Comes toVisit
Published by Unsettled Balance: Ethics, Security, and Canada’s International Relations
2015 In 2010, Canada welcomed the world to two mega-events that garnered global attention: first the Vancouver Olympic Games in February and March and then the G8 and G20 Summits in Huntsville and Toronto in June. The Vancouver Olympics required the largest domestic ...
Paradiplomatic policing and relocating Canadian foreign policy
Published by International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis
2014 Even though they claim to recognize that the boundaries between domestic and international security have eroded, scholars of Canadian paradiplomacy have tended to ignore the security-oriented paradiplomatic activities undertaken by sub-national actors in ...
URL: http://ijx.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/12/0020702014525903.abstract
Privatizing Security, Securitizing Policing: The Case of the G20 in Toronto, Canada
Published by International Political Sociology
2014 Allegations of police brutality, unlawful detention, and other breaches of civil liberties during the G20 in Toronto in June 2010 provide an important case through which to understand the changing nature of security and policing, raising questions about the political implications ...
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ips.12052/full
Counter‐Terrorism and Institutional Design
Published by International Studies Review
2014 These books address the question of the development of counter-terrorism institutions from opposite scales. 9/11 and the Design of Counterterrorism Institutions is a microlevel investigation of counter-terrorism policy in Northern Europe in the first weeks after 9/11. ...
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/misr.12113/full
Biography
Veronica M. Kitchen is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Her research on security governance across the global/local divide combines a critical approach that acknowledges the contingency of knowledge and the importance of reflexivity with a commitment to translating that perspective into policy relevant analysis. She researches co-operation in national security policing, integration in counter-terrorism bureaucracies, and North American security governance (with Kim Rygiel at the Balsillie School). Kitchen is co-lead (with Jenny Mathers) of a project on heroism in world politics, within which her interest is in portrayals of heroic military masculinity in popular culture. Kitchen also conducts research and outreach activities on the use of simulation in teaching world politics. She provides frequent media commentary on subjects related to national security, counter-terrorism and international security. She is an executive member of the Canadian Network on Terrorism, Security, and Society (TSAS). She has also recently been chair of the Professional Development Committee of the ISA-Canada, and co-lead of the conflict and security research cluster at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
Recognition/Reconnaissance
Study of Terrorism, Security and Society Award | Professional
Research Network on the Study of Terrorism, Security and Society Award
Ontario Early Researcher Award | Professional
Five-year grant funding the training of highly qualified personnel (2011-2016)
Distinguished Service Award | Professional
University of Waterloo Faculty of Arts Award for Distinguished Service to the faculty (2015)