Welcome to 21CQ!

Welcome to the Institute for 21st Century Questions, or 21CQ. Sam and I are in some sense working backward in history: a tank usually precedes a flagship publication. But as Global Brief magazine celebrates five years of publishing, we figured it was time to launch a new vision and strategy tank that would treat many of the topics that our terrific cadre of writers have raised and debated in the pages of GB, as well as the vexed Questions that have preoccupied us intellectually and professionally for many years.

21CQ is that vision and strategy tank. It has a global audience in mind, and aims to analyze and (where it can) help solve problems of world-historical significance. To start, 21CQ is interested in the following major Questions:

• The Former Soviet Space
• Middle East Security Framework
• International Criminal Justice
• Canada at 100 Million
• The Future of the Arctic
• The Future of the Quebec Question
• The Future of the Aboriginal Question
• Cybersecurity
• Asian Security Framework
• The Congo War
• Mainstreaming Science and Science Policy
• Complex Private-Public Sector Transactions

Over time, of course, this list should and will expand. We will continue to adapt, and our team, via 21CQ or GB, while fiercely independent, is looking forward to collaborating with partners around the world in order to better understand and frame the said Questions, propose solutions, and, at the coal face, motivate and mobilize parties large and small around the world to implement these solutions.

We hope you will enjoy and profit from the many expert exchanges that we will feature on the 21CQ site. These exchanges will take place in a large number of languages, without translation, in order to directly reach and engage 21CQ and GB audiences and stakeholders around the world. Please do not hesitate to engage our experts in discussions in relation to these exchanges – we want to hear from you!

Do continue to read and tell us what you’d like to see in GB. If you’re not yet part of our global subscriber base, you can quickly subscribe on the GB website: www.globalbrief.ca.

Finally, consider joining us on November 14th and 15th in Toronto for the 21CQ launch conference, which will also celebrate the fifth anniversary of GB. Tickets can be purchased on the Event page. The theme of the conference is “Navigating the Strategic Dark – Framing the Security Environment for the Next Decade.” It will feature world-class names and specialists and cover every corner of the globe.