The Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies (CMSS) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

focusing on military, defence and security issues, established in 1999. CMSS' mission is to promote and develop excellence in military, security and defence studies.

History

The Strategic Studies Program was established in 1981. It is part of the Department of National Defence's former nationwide network of Security and Defence Forum (SDF) research Centres, a network of Centres specializing in defence and security studies across Canada. It was renamed the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies in 1999. In November 2015, the Centre changed its name to include Security as a way to reflect the centre's increasingly diverse research focus. CMSS is part of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Calgary, draws from external departments such as

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

, and

Geomatics Geomatics is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as the "discipline concerned with the collection, distribution, storage, analysis, processing, presentation of geographic data or geographic information". Under another definition, it ...

. In June 2022, UCalgary announced that the PhD program was temporarily halted due to dropping number of applicants since 2015. In October 2022, it was reported that alleged Russian spy Jose Assis Giammaria studied at the CMSS in a course-based Masters program and graduated in 2018.

Programs

CMSS is a graduate-level program, currently offering four degrees: MSS thesis-based, MSS course-based, MSS Co-op, and PhD. An application to hold a formal PhD program within CMSS was approved by the University of Calgary Faculty of Social Science. (Now Faculty of Arts) The Masters program is currently completed by thesis, course work or co-op. Masters in Military and Strategic Studies (MSS) thesis-based is a two-year program consisting of one year of seminar and lecture courses, and a second year of thesis writing and defence; whereas, course-based students complete a second year of seminar study. The Co-op program for Master's students differs in that they work in a security and defence related job for eight months of their second year. Research conducted at the Centre by both faculty and graduate students is broad. Recent research has included work on Canadian military studies, civil-military relations, unconventional warfare, ethics and morality in conflict, Arctic sovereignty, domestic/hemispheric security, peacebuilding, naval history, strategic thought, Israel security studies and U.S. policy and politics.

Partners

The Centre is partners with the

University of Calgary School of Public Policy The School of Public Policy is a Canadian government-funded think tank based at the University of Calgary located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 2008, The school is devoted to public policy research and education, and is led by Martha H ...

and the

Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute The Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI) is an independent, non-partisan research institute based in Calgary with an office in Ottawa. Incorporated as a charitable organization in 2001, CGAI seeks to focus the national debate and understandin ...

. CMSS also has a collaborative relationship with the University of Calgary's Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance (ISPIA) and has an exchange program with the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, Germany. CMSS is affiliated with the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

Department of National Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

, the Arctic Institute of North America, and the

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

business community.

Publications

The Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies sponsors the online ''Journal of Military and Strategic Studies'', which publishes four issues per year. The mandate of this open access and peer reviewed publication, is to encourage the creation of original scholarship in strategic and military studies, to disseminate this material to an academic and professional audience, and to provide a forum for the discussion of Canadian security issues. CMSS also publishes international conference proceedings, books by fellows and the ''Calgary Papers in Military and Strategic Studies''.

Senior research fellows

* David J. Bercuson, Director CMSS * Robert Huebert, Associate Director CMSS * Holger H. Herwig, Canada Research Chair - Military and Strategic Studies * James Keeley, Graduate Program Director * Stephen J. Randall * Terry Terriff * David Wright * Alexander A. Hill * Gavin Cameron * Barry Cooper * Maureen Hiebert * Pablo Policzer * John R. Ferris * Sabrina Peric, CDFAI Chair * Patrick H. Brennan * Jean-Sébastien Rioux * Paul James Stortz * Timothy Stapleton

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Centre For Military, Security And Strategic Studies University of Calgary Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in Canada Think tanks established in 1981 1981 establishments in Alberta