Wallace Speaks to the Canadian and U. S. Military
On June 11-12, 2015, Jim Wallace, Lecturer in International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, participated in a conference at the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) College in Toronto entitled “Colloquium on Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding.”
“This was the first ever CAF conference dealing with religion and cultural variables in combat operations, and about 100 were in attendance,” Wallace said. “Academic representatives were from Boston University, Notre Dame, Georgetown University, American University, Carleton University, University of Ottawa, University of Waterloo, and Western Ontario University.”
Wallace presented on the subject of “Religion, Policy and Global Peacebuilding.” He addressed the role that religion policy is increasingly taking in the foreign policy strategies of various governments, including governments in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Wallace’s ideas in these areas have been honed during his work over the last two years with the Canadian Defense Academy on its long-range strategic training document, Institutional Leadership 2030. Wallace has also been working with members of the Canadian Armed Forces Council (equivalent to the Joint Chiefs of Staff) on addressing religion and culture in the overall structures and systems of the CAF.
Earlier, on April 20-22, Wallace participated in a U.S. Southern Command – SOUTHCOM conference entitled “Religion Matters II – Senior Leaders Symposium.” The conference was invitation-only and hosted by General John F. Kelley, Commander of SOUTHCOM and Colonel Michael Lembke, Command Chaplin of SOUTHCOM.
“There were only four academics invited to participate in the symposium – from Boston University, National Defense University in Washington, DC, Notre Dame, and Florida International University,” Wallace said. “Other attendees were senior U.S. Military commanders, U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, representatives from the U.S. National Guard, NGOs, and senior Miami religious leaders, along with military and religious representatives from Brazil, Paraguay, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and the United Kingdom.”
As of next year, the annual Religion Matters conference will be sponsored by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Wallace will be one of two keynote speakers at next year’s conference.
Wallace is a Fellow with Boston University’s Religion Fellows Program under the aegis of the BU School of Theology and the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, as well as an alumnus of the Pardee School. He teaches and lectures regularly in universities in China including Fudan University and Shanghai University. Learn more about him here.