Frightening pandemics, terrible inequality, racism and poverty, rising political authoritarianism, the inescapable climate crisis, and the resuscitated danger of nuclear war. We know the story. Some choose not to see it. Each of these crises seems so much larger than any one of us can understand or handle. Yet today, they all seem to be going critical simultaneously.

For Canadian Professor Thomas Homer-Dixon, in addition to these crises, Canada’s big neighbor to the south is becoming increasingly ungovernable, and some experts believe it could descend into civil war. In an article in the Globe and Mail in December 2021 that went viral, he asks, “How should Canada prepare?” for the case that American democracy does indeed collapse.

In Commanding Hope, Professor Thomas Homer-Dixon shows why and how we got where we are today; and most importantly, he shows the powers we possess to renew our imperiled world. Join us to hear a Canadian perspective on the U.S. midterm elections, about practical tools we can use to understand our own and others’ worldviews better, to be strategically smart in our actions, together, to take the world to a healthier, more just place.

“The hope Homer-Dixon is promoting has a dual nature. It arises from an internal summons and emerges as a call to action. This kind of hope isn’t naïve; its transformational.” – Arno Kopecky

"One of the best-informed and most brilliant writers on global affairs today." – The Guardian

Moderation: David Ehinger, retired Canadian diplomat and international lawyer


Photo: Thomas Homer-Dixon © Bryn Gladding