Ray Silvius

Title: Professor
Phone: 204.786.9909
Office: 6L09
Building: Lockhart Hall
Email: r.silvius@uwinnipeg.ca

Biography:

Dr. Ray Silvius is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at The University of Winnipeg. He writes on international political economy, Russia, the emerging multipolar world order, and the political economy of refugees.

His first book, Culture, Political Economy and Civilisation in a Multipolar World Order: The Case of Russia, was published by Routledge in 2016. Silvius is currently undertaking a three-year research project, which is funded by the Manitoba Research Alliance, on the housing experiences of resettled refugees in Winnipeg.

Research Interests:

I am interested in changes within the global political economy brought about by rising non-Western political economies. I utilize a heterodox and historical approach to International Relations and International Political Economy to examine how ideas about culture and civilization constitute contemporary Russian state projects, non-Western regional political and economic architectures, and post-Western conceptions of the global political economy. My intention with this research is to consider the ways in which historical ‘world order concepts’ derived from English language scholarship and American practices are being challenged in a multipolar global political economy.

These themes are reflected in my book, Culture, Political Economy and Civilization in a Multipolar World Order: The Case of Russia, which was published by Routledge for their RIPE Series in Global Political Economy.

My next contribution to this research theme is to further examine the emerging multipolar global political economy, emphasizing how cultural and civilizational content is instrumentalized in emerging non-Western political economies. Moreover, I am beginning to investigate the extent to which the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) framework enables or inhibits ‘post-hegemonic’ culture and practices in the contemporary global political economy.

I investigate how ‘global’ and transnational processes are manifested in particular locales, focusing on Winnipeg’s local sites of ‘everyday IPE’ and ‘nested transnationalisms.’  For this work I focus empirically and ethnographically on newly arrived refugees and their housing trajectories in Winnipeg. Such work remains grounded in a community-based and participatory methodology, emphasizing that the community (in my case, the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, the refugees they serve, and associated ethno-cultural communities) is equal partner in the research process.

The research is supported for three years by an external research grant ($49,946, provided by the Manitoba Research Alliance) for the project Refugee Housing Histories and Housing Trajectories: the Global-Local Nexus. For this work, our larger research team and community partners are conducting multiple, in-depth interviews with recently arrived refugee families in Winnipeg, charting their housing trajectories over three years.

I am the lead of the Migration in Remote and Rural Areas (MIRRA) Network within the Rural Policy Learning Commons (RPLC), a 7-year SSHRC partnership grant aimed at producing comparative international rural policy. See: http://rplc-capr.ca/migration-remote-rural-areas-network/

Publications:

Select Publications 

Books

Silvius, R. (2016).  Culture, political economy and civilization in a multipolar world order: The case of Russia.  Published by Routledge for RIPE Series in Global Political Economy. 
https://www.routledge.com/Culture-Political-Economy-and-Civilisation-in-a-Multipolar-World-Order/Silvius/p/book/9781138956049

Journal Articles

Silvius, R. (2018). Chinese-Russian Economic Relations: Developing the Infrastructure of a Multipolar-Global Political Economy? International Politics.

Silvius, R. (2017).  Prospects for Canadian-Russian engagements beyond common-sense civilizations and geopolitical conflict. International Journal of Canadian Studies, 55, 21-30.

Cobbett, E., & Silvius, R. (2017).  Introduction: Canada and the World in 25 Years - Will Anyone Be Listening? International Journal of Canadian Studies, 55.

Silvius, R. (2016-March). Neo-liberalization, devolution, and refugee well-being: A case study in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Canadian Ethnic Studies 48(3), 27-44. 

Silvius, R. (2016). The embedding of Russian state-sanctioned multipolarity in the Post-Soviet conjuncture.  Globalizations 13(1), 1-15. 

Silvius, R. (2014). The Russian state, Eurasianism, and civilisations in the contemporary global political economy.  Journal of Global Faultlines, 2(1), 44-69. 

Burron, N. A., & Silvius, R. (2013). Low-intensity democracy and political crisis in Haiti: the North American contribution. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue Canadienne D’études Du Développement, 34(4), 518–532.

Silvius, R. & Annis, R. (2007).  Reflections on the rural immigration experience in Manitoba’s diverse rural communities.  Our Diverse Cities, 3, 126-133.

Book Chapters

Silvius, R., Al-Ubeady, H., Halldorson, E. & Praznik, J. (2015).  Refugees and housing in Winnipeg’s inner-city: turning organizational knowledge into policy options. In J.Silver & J.Brandon, Editors, Poor Housing: A Silent Crisis (96-111). Fernwood Press.  

Silvius, R. (2015). Eurasianism and Putin’s ‘embedded civilizationalism’. In D. Lane and V.

Samokhvalov, Editors, The Eurasian Project and Europe: Regional Discontinuities and Geopolitics (75-88).Palgrave Macmillan.  

Germain, R. & Silvius, R. (2012). Critical analysis, war of maneuver, war of position: neoliberalism and the prospects for a renewed left politics in the European Union. In G. Strange & O. Worth Editors, New Regionalism and the Left in Europe (185-201). Manchester University Press.

Policy and Popular Papers

Ahmed, A., Al Ubeady,  H. and Silvius, R. (2017). Refugee Claimants Require Temporary and Permanent Suports. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Fast Facts. April 5, 2017.

Silvius, R., Al Ubeady, H., Chyz-Lund, D., Colorado, C., and Halldorson, E. (2017). What does it take to house a Syrian refugee? Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monograph.  January, 2017. 12,432 words.

Silvius, R., Halldorson, E., & Praznik, J. (2016). Towards a family-friendly immigration system. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Fast Facts. November 17, 2016.

Al Ubeady, H. & Silvius, R. (2016). Refugee resettlement must continue. Winnipeg Free Press.  October 11, 2016. Reprinted as: Lessons from Syrian refugee resettlement in Winnipeg. Canadian Centre for Policy. Fast Facts, October 11, 2016.

Bucklaschuk, J. & Silvius, R. (2016). Supporting refugee resettlement beyond the Syrian refugee crisis. CCPA Manitoba Office. April 16, 2016.

Silvius, R. & Poole, T. (2015). A welcoming home for refugees: removing the stigma, increasing the support.  CCPA Fast Facts.  Winnipeg, MB.  Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Silvius, R. (2015). You don’t have to live like a refugee.  Winnipeg Free Press.  May 28, 2015.

Silvius, R. & MacKinnon, S. (2012). Making employment work: connecting multi-barriered Manitobans to good jobs.  CCPA Monograph. Winnipeg, MB: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Silvius, R. & MacKinnon, S. (2012). Connecting Aboriginal people to 'good' jobs.  CCPA Fast Facts.  Winnipeg, MB: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.