Dr. Stephen Saideman ( He/Him )

Paterson Chair in International Affairs, Director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network

• MA and PhD in Political Science, University of California, San Diego; Government, Oberlin College.
• 5104 Richcraft Hall, Carleton University
• 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6
• Email Dr. Stephen Saideman
• 613-520-2600 ext 1369

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Stephen Saideman holds the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and is the Director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network. He has written five books: The Ties That Divide: Ethnic Politics, Foreign Policy and International Conflict; For Kin or Country: Xenophobia, Nationalism and War (with R. William Ayres); NATO in Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting Alone (with David Auerswald); Adapting in the Dust: Lessons Learned from Canada’s War in Afghanistan; and Overseen or Overlooked: Legislators, Armed Forces, and Democratic Accountability (with David Auerswald and Philippe Lagassé), edited two others, and published articles and chapters on nationalism, ethnic conflict, civil war, alliance dynamics, and civil-military relations. Prof. Saideman has received fellowships from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The first placed Saideman on the Bosnia desk of the Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate of US Joint Staff for a year, the second facilitated research in Japan, and the third placed him as a Fellow at the Hertie School in Berlin. He taught previously at the University of Vermont, Texas Tech University, and McGill University. He writes online at saideman.blogspot.com. He has won awards for teaching, for mentoring other faculty, for public engagement, and for his blogging on international studies. His social media address on a variety of outlets is @smsaideman. He is a co-host of the Battle Rhythm podcast, which is part of the CDSN Podcast Network His work of late has focused on figuring out who the civilians are who are supposed to be overseeing the armed forces of modern democracies and why they vary so much in whether they do oversight.

Overall Research Focus/Expertise

Civil-military relations: how and why countries differ in how they manage their armed forces and how their armed forces deal with their civilian leaders.

Current Projects

I am studying how defence agencies vary in what they see as their role vis-a-vis their armed forces–is the Department or Ministry of Defence’s job to oversee the military or to support it or to protect it?

Recent Publications

David P. Auerswald, Philippe Lagassé, and Stephen M. Saideman Overseen or Overlooked: Legislators, Armed Forces, and Democratic Accountability, Stanford University Press, 2025.

Constance Elaine Duncome, Maria Rost Rublee, Stefanie von Hlatky, Fernando Nunez-Mietz, and Stephen M. Saideman, “Gender Diversity and Inclusion in Canadian Security Studies” PS: Political Science Volume 58, No. 1 (2025,) pp. 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096524000271.

David P. Auerswald, Philippe Lagassé, and Stephen M. Saideman “Some Assembly Required: How Democratic Legislatures Vary in Overseeing the Military,” Foreign Policy Analysis, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/fpa/orac034

Willing to support students in the following areas of research

Civil-military relations; Canadian defence and security