Homer-Dixon and CIGI's 2008-09 Lecture Series
Cambridge Now ran a story headed "Canadian Scholar Thomas Homer-Dixon Launches CIGI's 2008-09 Signature Lecture Series". The Oil Drum, an energy-focused website, linked to it in a post that also carried a CIGI release excerpt about converging energy, climate and economic stresses. The original story is not available, so this page describes the people and organization involved. Last checked: November 10, 2026.
Quick facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Thomas Homer-Dixon, Canadian political scientist and author |
| Host | Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Waterloo, Ontario |
| Series | 2008-09 Signature Lecture Series, per the headline |
| His CIGI post | CIGI Chair of Global Systems, Balsillie School of International Affairs, from 2008 |
| Founded | CIGI, 2001, by Jim Balsillie |
Thomas Homer-Dixon
Homer-Dixon was born in 1956 and grew up near Victoria, British Columbia. In his late teens and early twenties he worked on oil rigs and in forestry. He earned a B.A. in political science at Carleton University in 1980 and a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989.
He taught at the University of Toronto from 1990 and directed the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies there until 2007. In 2008 he moved to the University of Waterloo as CIGI Chair of Global Systems at the newly created Balsillie School of International Affairs. The timing matches the 2008-09 lecture series. He later directed the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (2009 to 2014) and became executive director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University in 2020.
His work on energy and scarcity
His early research examined links between environmental scarcity and violence. Later books include The Ingenuity Gap (2000), which won the 2001 Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction, and The Upside of Down (2006), which won the 2007 National Business Book Award. Wikipedia describes the latter as drawing on the relationship between energy inputs, social complexity and social crisis. His 2010 book Carbon Shift covers peak oil and the climate crisis and their effects on Canada.
The Centre for International Governance Innovation
CIGI is an independent, non-partisan think tank on global governance. Balsillie gave an initial $20 million in 2001, Mike Lazaridis added $10 million, and the federal government matched the $30 million in 2003. The Balsillie School was launched in 2007 with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. Until September 2014 CIGI was based in the former Seagram Museum in uptown Waterloo, and it now operates from the CIGI Campus.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Thomas Homer-Dixon? A Canadian political scientist and author who studies threats to global security, including energy scarcity and climate change.
What is CIGI? A think tank on global governance based in Waterloo, Ontario, founded in 2001.
Was this a Cambridge, Ontario event? The venue is not verified. CIGI is in Waterloo, and Cambridge Now covered the wider region.
Did he hold a CIGI position in 2008? Yes. Wikipedia states he became CIGI Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School in 2008.
Where can the lecture content be found? Not here. The event details were not verified.
Sources
Wikipedia articles on Thomas Homer-Dixon and the Centre for International Governance Innovation; The Oil Drum post (node 4524), consulted for the headline and surrounding context only.