Dr. Stephen M. Saideman ( He/Him )

Paterson Chair in International Affairs

• 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 M. 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 both the Canadian Defence and Security Network and the Civil-Military Relations 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 the award-winning Overseen or Overlooked: Legislators, Armed Forces, and Democratic Accountability (forthcoming with David Auerswald and Philippe Lagassé), edited two others, and published articles and chapters on 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 which civilians are, if any, are overseeing the armed forces of modern democracies.

Overall Research Focus/Expertise

I focus mostly on comparative civil-military relations: the relationship between governments and their armed forces. The cases include democracies around the world.

Current Projects

Comparing defence agencies: do departments/ministries of defense oversee their armed forces?

Recent Publications

David P. Auerswald, Philippe Lagassé, and Stephen M. Saideman Overseen or Overlooked: Legislators, Armed Forces, and Democratic Accountability, Stanford University Press, 2025. Winner: 2026 CPSA Book Prize in Comparative Politics.

Jean-Christophe Boucher, Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, Lynne Gouliquer, and Stephen M. Saideman, “The Impact of Discrimination Scandals in the Armed Forces on Public Opinion: A Study of Canadian Attitudes,” Armed Forces and Society, (2026), https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X261437281.

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 politics