Veronica Kitchen
Associate Professor of Political Science | University of Waterloo and Balsillie School of International Affairs
Waterloo, ON, CANADA
Associate Prof of Political Science, University of Waterloo & Balsillie School of International Affairs
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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 self-consciously 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.
Kitchen 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.
Industry Expertise (6)
Security
Defense
Public Policy
Political Organization
Government Administration
Government Relations
Areas of Expertise (9)
International Security
Counter-Terrorism
National Security
Foreign Policy
Canada-United States relations
international relations
mega-event security
Critical Security Studies
Gender and security
Accomplishments (3)
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)
Study of Terrorism, Security and Society Award (professional)
2013-01-01
Research Network on the Study of Terrorism, Security and Society Award
Education (2)
Brown University: Ph.D., Political Science 2006
University of Toronto: B.A., International Relations 2001
Affiliations (4)
- Women In International Security
- International Studies Association
- Canadian Network on Terrorism, Security, and Society
- Canadian Political Science Association
Links (1)
Languages (3)
- English
- French
- German
Media Appearances (9)
Justin Trudeau makes first visit to Washington
TRT World online
2017-02-13
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.”
Hunt Continues for Berlin Suspect
CTV News Channel tv
2016-12-21
University of Waterloo's Veronica Kitchen discusses the effort to track down the perpetrator of the attacks on the Christmas Market in Berlin.
Security in Public Spaces
CBC News tv
2016-12-20
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.
Seeing things differently...
The Observer
2016-06-10
Veronica Kitchen, a political scientist who specializes in international security at the University of Waterloo told the National Post, “Protecting his own safety is OK. But given that he was at an event about commemorating British soldiers who were killed in the Easter Rising – which is still, 100 years later, diplomatically sensitive in the United Kingdom – it was probably not a great time for him to be using force against a protester.”...
‘You’re not RCMP anymore’: Security experts blast Kevin Vickers for overreacting in tackling Irish protester
National Post
2016-05-28
Vickers may have been acting on instinct and training after spending 29 years in the RCMP, Veronica Kitchen, a political scientist who specializes in international security at the University of Waterloo, said in an interview...
Six-Year-Old Ontario Boy Named 'High Profile' Flight Risk
Vice.com online
2016-01-04
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.
Canadian who volunteered to fight with Kurds against ISIS says it's the ‘right thing to do’
National Post
2014-11-21
Veronica Kitchen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, said it was not illegal to fight in a foreign conflict — although traveling abroad to participate in terrorism would be against the law...
B.C. terror plot: How seriously should we be taking terrorism in Canada?
Toronto Star
2013-07-09
Veronica Kitchen, a University of Waterloo associate professor and counterterrorism scholar, acknowledged that it can feel alarming when there are numerous incidences of terrorism. But Canadians are still far more likely to die in a car accident than a terrorist attack, she said. “I think that there’s always the problem of creating a culture of fear. There’s always the problem of inflating this kind of a threat into something bigger than it’s likely to be,” Kitchen said...
How big is Canada’s terrorism threat?
CNN
2013-04-23
News that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s “Project Smooth” foiled an alleged terrorist plot in Canada was greeted in some quarters with the usual tongue-in-cheek surprise that violent extremists would target a “nice country” like Canada. But the fact is that Canada has long been concerned with its status as a potential terrorist target...
Articles (5)
The Ethics of Mega-Event Security When the World Comes toVisit
Unsettled Balance: Ethics, Security, and Canada’s International Relations2015 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 ...
Privatizing Security, Securitizing Policing: The Case of the G20 in Toronto, Canada
International Political Sociology2014 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 ...
Counter‐Terrorism and Institutional Design
International Studies Review2014 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. ...
Paradiplomatic policing and relocating Canadian foreign policy
International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis2014 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 ...
Veterans and military masculinity in popular romance fiction
Critical Military StudiesAlthough 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.
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