The Duck of Minerva

Wendy Wong

Wendy Wong is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and Director of the Trudeau Center for Peace, Conflict, and Justice at the Munk School of Global Affairs. Her research focuses on the study of NGOs and the importance of the variations between NGOs and the role of foundations in human rights.

Recent Posts

Tweeted and Deleted by APSA: Gender and Race in the Academy

Tweeted and Deleted by APSA: Gender and Race in the Academy

by Wendy Wong | 9 April, 2016 | , , ,

I’ve been wanting to write a Duck post about the experience of a woman with visible minority status in IR for quite some time now. I was waiting for the right moment.  So thanks to the American Political Science Association (APSA), the professional association for US-trained political scientists, the moment has come. Yesterday morning, an email came from a friend with a screenshot.  The screenshot showed an attractive Asian woman in a frilly top who looks like she’s having a good time looking into the camera.  I was confused.  Then I read the blurb next to it: this was a promotion from...

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What Does it Mean to Promote Human Rights?

by Wendy Wong | 5 October, 2015 | ,

A few months ago, I began my Duck postings with an introspective on what it’s like to have grown up in the USA and moved to Canada to start my professional career. The current context in Canada is both daunting and exciting – yes people, “We the North” have an election. In two weeks. We have three (possibly four or five) parties to choose from, only one has amazing hair, and unlike US elections with the circus of personality assassinations and general chaos that surrounds the process, the Canadian one has gone on quite civilly and remained mostly focused on real issues. There are real issues...

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Market Values: Why Local Human Rights Work Needs Global Funding?

Market Values: Why Local Human Rights Work Needs Global Funding?

by Wendy Wong | 17 September, 2015 |

As IR scholars thinking about the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in shaping international norms, we rarely think to ask those doing the work on the ground what they think (this author is guilty as charged).  Plenty of work has gone into researching how others NGOs think of one another (Murdie and Davis, Hadden) and try to shape one another's’ behavior (Deloffre), how international NGOs shape international norms through their work with other political actors (Carpenter, among others), and how NGOs might censor themselves (Bush).  Others have also looked at how external, in...

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Opting for Trials Post-Conflict? Why the Structure of Losers Matters

by Wendy Wong | 17 August, 2015 | ,

This post was written with Lindsay Heger, who is Associate Director, One Earth Future Foundation. We’ve seen the rise of judicial means to bring human rights violators to trial in recent decades, both regionally and globally. Most famously, the International Criminal Court, was established after the Rome Treaty was ratified in 2002 in order to bring the most egregious state violators of human rights to to account for crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes (though this court has not been without its controversies, most acute of which is that the court deliberately...

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Market Values: Why Local Human Rights Work Needs Global Funding?

PETA’s Shock Tactics: Irresponsible Advocacy or Strategy and Positioning?

by Wendy Wong | 31 July, 2015 | ,

[As two fellow NGO researchers, Wendy and Maryam are going to collaborate on some posts to provide contrasting views on hot-button issues related to NGOs. Think of us as the Siskel and Ebert of NGOs - we definitely agree on certain things, but clearly not on others (and don’t ask who’s who). Our points of view will not always reflect what we personally think of an issue--we need drama and suspense!--but we will always provide food for thought.] By now everyone is well aware of the recent tragic killing of Cecil the lion by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer. Josh shared a post about this...

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Human Rights aren’t Revolutionary? Good!

by Wendy Wong | 20 July, 2015 |

Recently, Joel Pruce and Doutje Lettinga wrote contributions to openGlobalRights that lamented the non-revolutionary, and I would go so far as to say, anti-revolutionary tone that human rights have come to represent in global and local citizen politics. Both observers note the trend that international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) working on human rights have indeed, become “soft” in their success, earning reproach from critics such as musician-activists Pussy Riot. More harshly, INGOs can be viewed as complicit with state domination. In essence, human rights and the INGOs that fight...

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An American in Canada – Thoughts on Going Abroad for a Job

by Wendy Wong | 6 July, 2015 | , , ,

I never thought that when I started grad school I’d be relocating to another country. Then again, when I got the job in Canada, it did not really occur to me that I was “really” leaving the US – on my previous visits to Toronto, everything felt pretty familiar. Plus, as a scholar of transnational activism, borders were supposed to be made increasingly irrelevant. I still remember the moment the border agent stamped my passport and glued the work permit into its folds.  I had actually crossed a border for my job – politically, socially, and culturally. While many things are the same,...

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