RMCC - Office of the Principal

Dr. Joel Sokolsky, BA, MA, PhD

Biography

On 14 May 2008 the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence, announced the appointment of Dr. Joel J. Sokolsky as Principal of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) effective August 1, 2008.  A native of Toronto, Dr. Sokolsky earned his Honours BA from the University of Toronto, an MA from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in Political Science from Harvard University.  Prior to his appointment as Principal, Dr. Sokolsky was Dean of Arts and a Professor of Political Science at RMC.  He is a Senior Fellow at the Queen’s University Centre for International Relations, and holds an appointment with the Queen’s Department of Political Studies.  He is a member of the Canadian Navy’s Strategic Advisory Group, the Research Board of the Institute for Research on Public Policy and a Research Affiliate at the Strategic Studies Program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Sokolsky has taught at the Canadian Studies Center at SAIS, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and at Bridgewater State College, Massachusetts.  His areas of interest and teaching include Canadian foreign and defence policy, contemporary maritime strategy, international security relations and American foreign and defence policy. He has been the recipient of several scholarships and awards including two NATO Fellowships and two Fulbright Scholarships.  In 1995, he was named to the Teaching Excellence Honours List at RMC and in 2005 won the Research Excellence Award at RMC. He is a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal.

Dr. Sokolsky has been the author, co‑author and co‑editor of a number of books, monographs and articles.  His most recent works include, “Sailing in Concert: The Strategy and Politics of Canada-U.S. Naval Interoperability,” The Soldier and The State in the Post-Cold War Era (co-editor with Albert Legault), “Realism Canadian Style: National Security and the Chrétien Legacy,” “Guarding the Continental Coasts: United States Maritime Homeland Security and Canada,” “Between a Rock and a Soft Place: The Geopolitics of Canada-U.S. Security Relations,” “Renewing NORAD: Now If Not Forever” (with J. Jockel) and “Suspenders and a Belt: Perimeter and Border Security in Canada-United States Relations” (with P. Lagassé).

Dr. Sokolsky has served as a consultant to several government offices and represented Canada on the Secretariat Working Group of the NATO/Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes.